Pain of the Mind, Release of the Soul
by ExRevolution
Summary: As a mere baby, Harry Potter is left to live under the rooftop of the Dursley family, a magic hating "normal" family and it is because of them that the boy Harry comes into and achieves his greatest power. Dumbledore will say the power Voldemort knows not is love but Harry knows the truth. M for violence, possible heavy language and other scenes.
1. Pain of the Mind, Release of the Soul

A/N: I was thinking about how to make this before I watched episodes 9 and 10 of the anime Kiznaiver but I think I have something now... Also yes I know the beginning is kind of rocky but just bear with me please, I'm not a skilled writer.

In the author`s notes here, I copied it over from the original chapter I had written but it was so bad, still, I had the original author`s notes which I didn`t see until I published the chapter so... yeah.

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

flashback or quotes

"flashback spoken dialogue"

'flashback thought'

Warning: Child abuse.

* * *

Pain of the Mind, Release of the Soul

13th of July, 2015

"I'm sure you've all heard the saying, 'No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.' How true it is... you know, in my case, it really was, at least, when I was living with my relatives as a child," said a voice in sad remembrance. "It happened so long ago but I can remember this day as though it were yesterday..."

"Not too long ago though Harry, you're not that old," Harry's wife said.

"You flatter me Daphne. Anyways, are you sure you want to know my life story kids? It's not the happiest one you could find you know," Harry said.

"Just tell us dad! I'm sixteen! These two are fifteen, I'm sure we can handle it!"

"Alright then, Dahlia, well then, it began with my first case of accidental magic at the age of five, I was not in the best place to live, being enslaved by your grand mum's sister and her family..."

* * *

When one experiences pain, there is bound to be some type of response. Emotional which consists of anger, sadness, and fear. Anger and sadness directed at oneself or the one who caused said pain. Lastly, fear, fear that the situation that caused it would happen again, or fear of the pain itself.

But sometimes pain can become too much for one too handle and they do something drastic which is potentially permanent.

Or, when the pain becomes too much, they simply shut down.

Unlike a machine, you cannot simply cut the energy source, turn it back on, and everything would be fine. People take time to recover from minor to major things. From minor hurts like a scraped knee to post traumatic stress disorder.

On the case of a small boy, born in the year 1980, July 31st, abuse.

"How dare you show your freakishness around here you little brat!" Petunia shrieked, she grabbed the belt that was reserved for hurting Harry and attacked him.

Harry Potter, five years old in the year of 1985, had lost his parents 4 years ago on the night of Halloween. His Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon told him that they had died in a car crash but he wasn't sure if he should believe them, not only because of their abuse but a dream he'd had every Halloween which involved a green flash of light, a screaming woman, and high cold laughter.

Harry was made to live his years at his aunt's house but they seemed to hate his very existence, making it their life's goal, at least it was this way for Harry, to make his life absolutely miserable, maybe even to the point of death. Or at least he thought they were trying to kill him but Harry was not too sure about that. 'How did that happen?' Harry thought, wincing every time the belt came down. 'I was just trying to do what Aunt Petunia said and all of a sudden all the weeds were in a pile and now she's hurting me... Why is she hurting me? Help me...'

"YOU!" CRACK! "WILL!" CRACK! "NOT!" CRACK! "DO" CRACK! "YOUR!" CRACK! "FREAKISHNESS!" CRACK! "ON!" CRACK! "OUR" CRACK! "PROPERTY!" CRACK! "YOU!" CRAcK! "UNGRATEFUL BRAT!" Petunia shrieked as loud as she dared for even in her fit of rage, she still maintained a semblance of clarity in that she didn't want anything to break the illusion that her family was perfectly normal, deliberately ignoring the fact that they were far from normal or perfect due to them abusing a child to the near extremes. She then began kicking him in his chest, causing him to curl up in pain but she began to kick his hands, arms, and legs and with one direct stomp, there was a loud snap and his left leg flattened and twisted the wrong way with, to Harry's ears, grated loudly while attempting to scream in pain but Petunia had stuffed his mouth with a semi-dirty rag from the kitchen. With this, she was satisfied and began to clean up, breathing heavily in exhilaration.

Due to Harry being so small and weak, she grabbed and lifted up his bleeding and bruising form, he had let out small whimpers every time the belt had landed but by now he had passed out due to the pain. Petunia then ripped open the cupboard door and threw him in, slamming it shut and locking it. She let a small smug grin form on her face before she hid the 'Harry Belt'as Petunia and Vernon had taken to calling it in a safe place under the couch. 'I have to call Vernon about this... Wait, no, I'll tell him in person, then we could celebrate,' she thought joyfully.

Petunia had no idea this was happening but on the other side of the door though, Harry, though unconscious, had his eyes wide open. They were glowing, making them seem like made of green fire. His body was surrounded in a light green glow as well. All the welts began to close up and stop bleeding and the swelling of his many bruises began to disappear. His leg disgustingly twisted back with a loud click and whatever broken bone fragments and muscle that had been damaged began to head back to their original position before the green glowing light completely healed the remaining inflammation and slowly withdrew, back into his body. Though the blood that had seeped out remained on Harry's blankets, he himself was well and sleeping with only slight discomfort.

…

Harry wasn't sure if it was just the darkness of the closet but he felt something was wrong, seriously wrong. He felt around and found that his glasses were lopsided on his face, he readjusted them and blinked a few times. He blinked several more times and began to panic. 'I can't see! I can't see! I can't... Why can't I see? I... I...' Harry thought, his heart began to beat at higher rate, sounding loud in the darkness. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down. "Breathe in, 1, breathe out, 2, breathe in, 3..." He opened it and even after the few short seconds, his eyes hadn't adjusted.

'Okay... So I'm blind now? But... It's not like... Hey wait, I'm not hurting anymore? I thought my leg was broken! Everyone's always mean to me, it's so unfair! What did I ever do? I... wait, what was that?' Harry had thought, he thought he had just seen Aunt Petunia coming down the stairs. 'That can't happen can it? Seeing through things? They did always call me freak but, maybe they meant this?' He tried focusing and as the steps grew louder and louder he thought he saw an outline of who he presumed to be Aunt Petunia.

He watched as she approached his door and walked passed, heading into the kitchen. She began to work on a meal, he assumed it was breakfast but he wasn't sure how long he was in the cupboard this time. He felt extremely weak and felt the need to sleep. 'M-maybe just a few minutes...'

…

He woke up with a start to a banging on his cupboard door and at first the panic from his blindness set in again but he tried to "see" again without closing his eyes. His brows furrowed and he saw Aunt Petunia working with a rapid pace that he never remembered seeing while he was doing all the Dursley's work for them while she worked on something else. He tried to gather what little energy he had as he still felt weak and refocused. The banging noise was caused by Vernon and Dudley kicking the door as they'd walked passed him, Uncle Vernon's kick being more forceful of course, causing Harry to worry that maybe the door would break in. "How long until I get to 'play' with Harry again daddy?" Dudley said smugly.

"In one full week from now Dudders, then you can 'play' with Harry to your heart's content my boy," Uncle Vernon replied in equal if not greater smugness.

'Oh how fun," Harry thought darkly, he saw them sitting down and waited for Aunt Petunia to finish cooking. 'I have a week to be able to see again, this weird x-ray vision isn't good enough so maybe I need to be able to see without seeing...' He focused, once more with his eyes closed, and began to try and feel with the strange type of energy he thought he had felt while 'seeing' instead of actually 'seeing' this time. By imagining as though whatever allowed him to feel was touching whatever his body wasn't touching, Harry thought he might have touched upon the very small spider that had taken up residence in one of the corners of this small "room." He focused on trying to touch that spider again and he nearly jumped when it began to run deeper into the corner, away from his 'touch.'

'What is that? What is...' Harry tried again and accidentally went overboard, crushing the tiny spider which killed it immediately. 'Oh no, I didn't mean to, but what is this? I haven't touched anything at all!' He thought, extremely confused. Closing his eyes again, he didn't try to see or feel, just focusing on himself, but with nothing in mind, he wasn't sure what to look for, and since he was doing this, his 'sense' spread into himself and he tried to look for something, anything, any type of energy within himself but he found nothing that he could really tell that was different from what he normally felt and gave up.

* * *

"Albus, you've said you've been keeping an eye on the boy, so how is he doing under the roof of those muggles? I told you they were the worst kind of muggle to one of magic like you and I..." a feminine voice spoke with a slightly noticeable Scottish accent.

"Minerva do not worry, he is being looked after with the utmost care like what Petunia and Vernon Dursley do with their own child," Albus Dumbledore replied to Minerva McGonagall, with a twinkle in his eyes as he looked into the transfigurations professor's mind, reading her surface thoughts.

"If you say so Albus..." Minerva said after a moment. She felt as though she should go and check on Harry herself but she was very busy every moment of every day while she was awake, during school it was teaching and grading, during the holidays she had to plan for seven years worth of lessons and figure out which was the best books for the next years' students to acquire for their lessons and when she was finished with that, she had barely any moments to herself which she either used for vacation or trying to improve her already impressive repertoire of transfiguration type spells.

* * *

28th of December, 1986

It was cold in the house and though the heater was turned on in the house, Harry's cupboard seemed fairly sealed off from the heat being generated from the inside. Harry shivered in his blankets as he tried to focus enough to channel his magic to shake the air enough around him at a constant rate to warm it up but he had yet to acquire the precision required to do something such as that without a spell.

He had discovered what it truly was that he had begun to wield the previous year, it was magic, but he had no idea how or why he had the power. But he was happy for it as while he was out of the sight of his "family" he would use it to his benefit. Currently he was only able to push, pull, lift, and force things down but not to great lengths as it tired him out to do much more than move moderately sized objects bigger than half the size of the Dursley's microwave.

Harry hoped to be able to master the current way he was able to use this magical energy before too much time passed though so as to have no issue when doing one of his many assigned chores. But only time would tell…

* * *

Author's Notes: So I will only do this once: I do not own Harry Potter in any way aside from the story line of this fanfiction but of course everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling and any other copyright holders.

Why is it Petunia? Because when I originally wrote this chapter, I had Vernon at work and the way I wrote Petunia, I was hoping the celebration part was like she would cook a very fancy meal for herself and her husband but... y'know. Yea I don't know, but I like the way I wrote this chapter this time so you know... Anyways... I don't know when the next chapter will be released and I know I've promised I'd finish writing this story to the end like in my previous attempts to Harry Potter fan-fiction novels so I won't do it this time, but I'll try, thanks for reading and please leave a review so as to let me know what I should improve upon. Thank you!


	2. Opening to the World

Author's Notes: You know, after all the previous times I've released chapters or published stories close to midnight, I'd never gotten quite so many views or anything at the very start but thank you all.

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 **"flashback spoken dialogue"**

 **'flashback thought'**

 **Even if none of the chapter is like the last three parts, I will keep writing this in every chapter.**

 **Also wow, I never expected my fic to get such statistics within the first day although it is still the summer holidays I suppose, but thank you all. To the favorites, followers, and reviewers and those who will keep reading regardless, thank you!**

* * *

 **Opening to the World**

 **17th of April, 1987, London.**

"Boy, if you are not here within the next three hours, I'm never coming back for you!" Vernon Dursley, the abusive uncle-in-law of Harry Potter, quietly said full of disdain to his nephew. Harry Potter didn't really enjoy being in his family's company and he'd pretty much mastered his "dark seeing" so he had no trouble looking into his uncle's eyes.

Harry had pretty much figured out he wasn't alone in that he had the ability to use magic due to few strange encounters he'd had with strangely dressed people who he assumed were wizards and he drove a lot of his effort into his chores and even to unassigned work by his relatives as to make them hate him less, just enough to allow for one request of many in the six years he'd lived with them. With this request, he hoped to go into London and find any sign or source that would lead him to the magical metropolitan area of London.

Harry had been driven to Charing Cross Road and after a momentary stop in which his uncle had spoken to him, he got out and his uncle drove away, probably to meet with some business partners, whatever it was, he didn't care. He began letting off attached waves of his magic to sense for anything as he leaned against a wall. He didn't really look around, preferring to feel out with his magic, a skill that was separate from his single focused touch as this type of magic was a wide-area sensor. This allowed him to find and see things which none would be able to see with one's eyes unless they truly looked for it.

'There is a place about 30 meters to my left, there's a kind of cool magic that's covering the front of it,' Harry thought. It was indeed a "kind of cool magic" at least to Harry it was as he'd never experienced anything like it, noticing it mostly because of all the "normal" people that seemed to walk right past it without any regard for its existence. He walked up to the entrance and looked up, there was a sign which read "Leaky Cauldron". Looking in, he saw several patrons scattered throughout the dingy pub-like setting with one balding old man cleaning some glasses.

Taking a deep breath, Harry walked in, keeping his head down, he wasn't really sure what to say or do but he really didn't like to talk to his family, much less any stranger, fairly common sense Harry reasoned. "E-excuse me..." Harry whispered to the bartender.

The bartender glanced up and gave a toothy-grin. 'That's kind of creepy...' Harry thought.

"Yes what can I help you with?" he replied in the same tone and volume.

"Where can I go from here?" he answered just as quietly as before, he realized he could've just used his sensor magic but this was his first true encounter with a magical person, or so it seemed.

"Where can you...? Oh you mean Diagon Alley, you just go to the back and there's a brick courtyard, you tap 3 bricks in a counterclockwise order but I'll just show you for your first time alright? Follow me, my name is Tom by the way, what's yours?" Tom put his glass and rag down and gestured for Harry to follow. Harry didn't answer the question but Tom showed no sign of noticing or even asking the question once more. The old bartender led him to a small brick-walled courtyard with a trashcan in the corner and walked over to it. "Okay so from right here, the first brick is here," said Tom, tapping his wand which he'd produced from some unknown area on his body against the first brick above the handle of the trash can. "Then three up." Tap. "Then two across to the left." Tap.

With the third tap, the bricks began to move aside and in just a few moments, the wall beside the trashcan opened up and became an archway, and the entrance to what Harry presumed was Diagon Alley. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, I'm sorry but I have to head back to tend to the bar. Good luck." It didn't occur to Tom until later than the boy never gave his name.

Harry kept his head down and his hands in his worn out pockets, he could 'see' the looks and glares sent his way, probably because he looked like a beggar's child or something, he didn't know, but at least he knew they didn't hate him by knowing who he was, he really hated that and he knew that's how Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon saw him, Dudley is an unfortunate byproduct of their hate. Harry wasn't sure what to be surprised about, the fact that everything looked as though it were in the 19th century or that the streets were dirty and unkempt, maybe it was just a byproduct of the era the magical world still lived in.

Harry wasn't sure why, but he felt drawn to the massive white marble building at the very end of this first street on the left and disregarding the glares sent by the Goblins. Harry heard some old wizard grumbling about the service by the bank, 'So these are magical creatures then?' as he walked through the doors and he wasn't sure where to go so he went to the very end of the hall where he supposed the highest goblin sat. "What business do you have with Gringotts today, child?" the goblin asked, staring Harry down, scanning him as though he were nothing more than dead meat.

"I-I don't know..." Harry mumbled loud enough for the goblin teller to hear, he felt awkward enough that this creature radiated a barely noticeable wave of disdain but that he had to talk at all was nearly overwhelming him.

"Well what's your name then? I am very busy you know," the goblin said to him with a sneer.

"H-Harry," he answered.

"Just Harry? What's your last name, child?" the goblin asked firmly, a little annoyed that this child was so quiet and unforthcoming for something as small as a name.

"Harry Potter" he answered, tensing up. To the goblin, this action seemed as though the boy now known as Harry Potter anticipated being struck down for something so small. It was kind of an insult; they wouldn't ever strike out at customers unless they broke their laws. But based on his appearance, he didn't know of even the magical world until just today.

'Wait, what did he just say?' the goblin thought, this time speaking up. "Say again?"

"Harry P-Potter sir" Harry mumbled, he wanted to run but he was frozen in place by the goblin's previously disdainful glare.

"Hold on one second Harry Potter," the goblin replied. 'Harry Potter was back? He didn't expect that until the boy's first year at Hogwarts and that wouldn't be for another four years at the very least. He whispered to the surprised goblin at his side. "Get the account manager for the Potter family vaults, tell Ragnok that the lost son of James and Lily Potter are here, do not call down Dumbledore until I tell you to, understand?" The unidentified goblin associate ran off to one of the many doors along the walls of this Gringotts Bank, seemingly run by goblins only.

"You know, I never expected to see you here today Mr. Potter, not until you were to attend Hogwarts at least," the goblin said in a much kinder tone which Harry picked up on.

He relaxed just slightly and spoke just a notch louder. "What's Hogwarts Mr. Goblin?"

"Hogwarts, Mr. Potter, is the school to which all magical children such as yourself will go to after you reach the eleventh cycle of your life and for seven cycles you shall attend this school in which you'll learn all the skills and spells you'll need in which to survive in your world," the goblin teller answered, pausing for a moment, he looked down at a paper he had on his desk and continued to speak. "But alas, it is time you go to our associate Ragnok, the bank manager of your accounts." The guard had returned and gestured for Harry to follow him.

Harry gave a polite nod to the goblin teller and followed the goblin associate into one of the many adjacent rooms. "Here is Harry Potter, Lord Ragnok," the goblin bowed towards the much older goblin and left.

Harry sat down upon the chair offered and looked at the desk, not really sure of what to say or do to this goblin who apparently checked and moved around the assets for his family and whatnot.

"So, Mr. Potter, I am Lord Ragnok, the bank account manager for the Potter family vaults, I was told by Dumbledore that he would take care of all business as your magical guardian and you would only arrive to take out some money from your trust vault when you turned eleven, just in time for your year at Hogwarts, what are you doing here today?"

"I-I just wanted t-to learn about magic but I felt as though I had to come in to Gringotts today", Harry answered timidly. This Lord Ragnok was a very imposing figure despite his stature, giving off an aura that demanded respect though Harry felt it was far less than what someone else might have gotten.

"And so you are here, as your vaults haven't been touched since the time of your parents' death six years ago. Due to this, in order to officially confirm your identity, we'll have to do a blood test", Ragnok spoke softly. Harry tensed up again, this time with anticipation of the potential torture to come.

"Do not worry, it isn't going to hurt Mr. Potter, it's an extremely simple procedure," Ragnok began to explain. He reached under the desk and pulled out a seemingly old, antique-like rectangular box. Pressing his thumb to the lock, it clicked and Ragnok lifted the lid up and pulled out a medieval-looking dagger with what were, to Harry at any rate, runes. "All I'm going to need to do is to get just a few drops of your blood and, as this ritual dagger is enchanted for Potter blood, it should glow a green colour in confirmation but if you're not who you say you are, then it'll glow red. Once the ritual dagger has gotten the necessary blood, the cut will close right up as though it never happened."

Harry had been staring at the dagger warily and began to panic at the thought of Ragnok's last sentence, images of the Dursley's form of torture and pain flashing behind his mind's eye. "No no no no no!"

As Harry tightened up into tense silence onto the chair he sat upon, magic began to flare out of control causing a massive wind to blow. This magically induced wind was like a miniature cyclone, sending all the papers and many small objects flying and smashing about around the room.

"Mr. Potter! Please calm down! This will not hurt you!" Ragnok tried to shout at him but the cacophony caused by the wind and magic was too much and didn't reach Harry's ears.

"NO!" Harry screamed, and then he vanished, along with the wind.

Ragnok was a goblin who was rarely surprised by most things, I mean who would be in a world of magic? But a child who, Ragnok was able to sense that Harry was able to do so, was able to control magic to such a degree at such a young age WITHOUT a wand was extremely rare even back in the days of the grand sorcerers of Merlin and the Founders!

'It seems the goblins of Gringotts will have to keep watch on young Harry Potter, he will do great things someday, the Potters may not have been the richest or powerful, however they still had a lot of influence due to their efforts in the first war with the Dark Lord. But first things first, until I am able to get proper business done with Mr. Potter, Dumbledore shall not be allowed to access the family vaults regardless of his being the young child's magical guardian. There is something not right with the boy and when I had spoken of the simple test, he panicked, I can't even sense him inside Gringotts now.

'What power!' Ragnok thought seriously. "Irontooth! A word!"

* * *

Harry reappeared in an obscure alley somewhere close by Gringotts but he was finished with whatever business he may have done with the bank today. 'I will not be hurt again, but I still need to get books or anything else to study... Is there a bookstore around?' Still trembling, Harry made his way out of the alley and noticed a store full of books just a few buildings down.

'There has to be some sort of discard pile somewhere... I don't want to steal but someday, I'll pay them back. Flourish and Blotts? This seems to be the bookstore I'll need but...' Harry went looking around and there was no trash full of discarded books anywhere in the area, at least directly by the shop.

Sighing in defeat, Harry decided to head back to where his uncle had said he'd been but he was sure he had another two hours and forty-five minutes to go. As he made his way from the lot, he bumped into someone carrying a whole ton of books with her wand which caused a waver in the witch's concentration and the massive pile of books floating along behind her fell and scattered all over the ground. "I-I'm so sorry si-ma'am!" Harry squeaked, having not noticed it was a woman initially and scurried about picking up stray books and trying to help the slightly amused, bemused, and slightly startled witch who just waved her wand and the fallen books flew back into the massive stack it was previously.

"It's alright, but what are you doing here? Where's your parents?" she asked kindly as she crouched down, tilting her head and giving a small smile to the terrified child. But Harry didn't believe the tone in her voice or her expression for a second and ran off.

"That was strange... Wait, green eyes? But that couldn't be... No, it must have been a trick of the light," the witch finally said after several moments of surprise despite the fact that the small area she was currently standing in were covered in a deep shadow. She then continued to make her way into the book shop and disappeared, sparing one more glance outside but seeing nothing, she resumed her work.

…

'She sounded nice... but so did Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon just a few months ago for a week just to hurt me!' Harry thought cynically. But then on his worn face, a small smile grew. 'I did get a book though... The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1... This should be good for now. I'll read this for a couple hours until I need to meet up with Uncle Vernon again!'

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you Airtmac24 for helping me edit this chapter**

PaC: It purely is coincidental, of course not on our side here but for Harry it really is, apparently in the real Charing Cross Road, it's renowned for its bookstores and with someone like Vernon Dursley, he's bound to misunderstand. Also just because he isn't super abused anymore doesn't mean he can't have gotten PTSD of sorts. Okay, I said I'd only considered it doing that,, I didn't say I'd actually do it PaC


	3. This Is Irony In One Form Or Another

**A/N: Before anyone asks, the reason I was able to release chapter 2 so easily was because it came easy to me, I don't necessarily plan chapters but I think of events for random points in the story, one or two of which I have for Harry meeting Daphne so don't worry, there will be no BS way for them meeting. Also, I don't think I'll be able to upload so quickly after this chapter so I'm sorry about that, anyhow…**

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 _ **"flashback spoken dialogue"**_

 _ **'flashback thought'**_

 **Warning: Child abuse again**

* * *

 **This Is Irony In One Form Or Another**

 **17th of April, 1987**

Harry had managed to read through about half of the way through the book until Uncle Vernon had returned but then it was time to go back "home" and he regretfully closed the book and hid it under his second-hand Dudley sweater which, due to his cousin's size, was very easily covered, helped along by Vernon's deliberately ignoring him the entire time he drove back to Privet Drive in Surrey. When they arrived, Uncle Vernon turned and spoke. "As I have so graciously taken you to London, tonight you will not eat, drink, or complain, you will go and work on whatever Petunia has you do and then you'll go to your cupboard, understand?"

Harry only nodded, hoping he'd be able to hide the book before he had to do anything else. "Good, then hurry up boy!"

 _ **oOoOo**_

 _ **Gringotts Bank, Ragnoks Office, the same day, Four hours before.**_

 _ **"Lord Ragnok? Dumbledore is here to see you,"**_ _the voice of the guard that stood by the head of the bank at the end of the main hall came through the door._

 _ **"Send him in, Sharpclaw,"**_ _Ragnok replied._

 _The door opened and the wizened form of Albus Dumbledore walked through. Eyes twinkling, Dumbledore sat down. Ragnok growled inward and slammed his mind shields to full and watched with a slight smirk at the suddenly blank and surprised old wizard._ _ **"What could I do for you today Dumbledore?"**_

 _ **"I'm not here on business today R-Lord Ragnok, I came here with a question,"**_ _Dumbledore spoke._ _ **'I was unable to gleam your secrets, so I must see if you'll tell me of your own will.'**_

 _ **"What would you like to know? Make it quick, I am very busy and I doubt a wizard such as yourself would need to ask a goblin about anything other than banking matters Dumbledore,"**_ _Ragnok said._

 _ **"I notice that your office is in disarray, I am in Diagon Alley on business when I felt the most curious force of magic coming from inside Gringotts, based on the state of your room, I assume this is where it has occurred, I know goblins don't often use magic, and as you're the manager to the Potter accounts and I'm Harry Potter's magical guardian, I insist you tell me, who was here to occupy your time and business?"**_

 _ **"I see, I see, and you think I am allowed to tell you? Even if I wanted to, me telling you would be against Gringotts policy, I am not allowed to divulge client information without serious dishonour and breaking Gringotts and goblin law, the audacity you have to think that just because you are who you are and who you presume to be, you are privy to private information is blasphemy! If you do not have any business relevant to yourself or Mr. Potter, then leave the grounds of Gringotts."**_

 _ **'Damn goblins and their code of honour, don't they see that this is for the Greater Good?!' Dumbledore thought in frustration, though his visage being grandfatherly was maintained. "Thank you for your time Lord Ragnok." He left the room with one more thought running through his mind. 'That magical signature is Harry's, if he caused that, it seems I have to bind him once more and obliviate him. He cannot know of the magical world or become too powerful or else the Greater Good will not come to pass! Hehe, or rather, my, Greater Good! Unfortunately, I have some rather tedious business with the Wizengamot today, however, afterwards, I shall resume my more important business.'**_

 _Dumbledore vanished as he went out through the bank doors._

 _ **Back in Ragnok's office**_

 _ **'Be careful, Harry Potter, I feel as though Dumbledore is up to something, I hope your magic will be able to stop Dumbledore's plans in his tracks,'**_ _Ragnok thought, praying to the heavens._

 _ **oOoOo**_

 **13th of July, 2015**

"Dad?" Cygnus James Potter, Harry's first son and fraternal twin to Athena Sirius Potter, spoke, breaking Harry out of his "monologue."

"Yea Cyg?" Harry replied.

"Why did you say 'No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy' at the start of all this?" Cygnus said.

"Well, I suppose it's because of what happened just a few hours later than day, when I met Dumbledore for the first time. You see, the year I was going to go to Hogwarts, uncle Vernon revealed that one of the reasons they beat me so often was to beat the magic out of me, that is rare but not impossible and they knew that, or at least aunt Petunia knew because of your grandma Lily when they were kids, and so she told Vernon when I came by to live with them about squibs. Some squibs are the result of abuse among other things. My magical ability fully came to me when they found the book due to me being told to "clean the cupboard" and Dudley seeing it. I'd foolishly assumed that they'd never see and so..."

 **oOoOo**

"NO MORE WILL OUR GENEROSITY BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED! YOU BRAT!" Uncle Vernon roared. After Dudley had discovered the book and ran to tell his mum and dad, Vernon had grabbed the belt while Petunia had grabbed a pan and made to harm Harry to the same state and worse as the first time he'd done magic. Harry's mouth had been stuffed with another dirty rag yet he'd still managed to scream into silence, his throat raw. Vernon picked Harry up and slammed him against the wall and laughed at his nephew's defeated state. Dudley had been kicking him at first but with Harry being held up, he was punching his cousin hard in the stomach while Petunia began to wind herself up with the frying pan in her hand.

A loud crack sounded somewhere outside of the house and the door opened, revealing Dumbledore standing in the doorway, staring in mild surprise. 'Though I knew this was happening, I never thought they'd actually try to kill the child, I don't want to do this but I'll have to interv-,' Dumbledore's thought trailed off.

Petunia began to swing hard at Harry's head and with the previous damage already caused by the kicks and being slammed against the wall, there was no doubt that Harry would die in their eyes. Before the pan landed, however, there was a flash of green light and the Dursley family were sent flying back, crashing into the other side of the hall. Harry's eyes glowed green, unlike the previous time, however, it was burning like an uncontrolled flame, small bolts of lightning shooting out.

A constant wave of pressure kept the Dursleys against the wall and Dumbledore against the ground. The old man was barely able to lift his hand just enough and attempted to cast the binding spell but as the grey coloured spell flew from his wand, it fizzled and disappeared into the strange green misty round barrier that had erected itself around Harry. The spell that had fizzled out against the shield seemed to make the mist seem even thicker than it already was, flashed and pulsed once, and returned to normal yet anyone could definitely tell that it had become more powerful. Dumbledore stared in shock, he'd never nor heard of any magic like what he was currently seeing in front of him.

A green light that had surrounded Harry's body healed his injuries completely though the blood that had been spilled remained. He opened his mouth an a strange echo that, though it did sound like Harry, had an almost eerie but also angelic quality, echoing. "No more, you three seek to better yourselves through underhanded and hidden means and relieve your stress or anger by harming a defenseless child. No more... None of you here shall continue to hurt me any longer, or you will not live long enough to regret it."

Harry turned his head to look at Dumbledore. "I do not know who you are, but I feel as though I should not trust you, leave!" Harry commanded and Dumbledore felt overwhelmingly compelled to do as the boy wished, the hauntingly burning green eyes burned into his mind's eye, the power of his voice filling his mind.

Once he appeared in Diagon Alley, his muddled mind cleared up and he realized at that point that Harry had burned through the magical binds he had placed throughout the years. 'What power... I knew Harry was powerful but that was beyond anything I've ever experienced! Will I still be able to make the boy do as I need him to? This is going to be more of an uphill climb than it ever was before...'

 **oOoOo**

Once the storm of magic calmed down, Harry slumped momentarily back against the wall as the Dursleys looked on blankly in shock. 'I feel so... clear now, like nothing is holding me down anymore.' Harry looked down at his hands which crackled with sparks, small bolts of green lightning dancing around his fingers. 'I also feel so... so strong,..'

"I need to let it out," Harry muttered and slowly but surely, he let out invisible waves of magic that began to disperse into the air yet also somehow remained connected to him. "That feels significantly better," Harry muttered again in surprise. A slam knocked him out of his reverie and he looked at the door, seeing the outline of all of his relatives climbing hurriedly into the car and driving off. He looked around him, though he couldn't see the magic he kept pushing out of himself, he still felt every bolt of it.

"I'm feeling kind of hungry now, I wonder if there's anything in the fridge?" Harry said, turning around and walked into the kitchen. Harry reached for the handle of the refrigerator and felt a sharp pain in his forehead. Harry held his head in his hand and felt as though something was stabbing him in his head, trying to get out. He heard an unearthly pained scream and before he passed out on the kitchen floor, he thought he saw a black mist dissipating into nothingness…

 **oOoOo**

 _ **"Four that have been torn from dimensions before their time shall meet. A fifth frozen by ice will join their ranks, thus creating the Union. This fifth-"**_

Harry faintly registered hearing a voice speaking to him but he wasn't able to completely hear whatever message was being relayed.

 ** _"-The fate of the world will be decided by their final confrontation with the darklest lord of the age."_**

 **oOoOo**

 _"_ Who's there?!" Harry shouted. He thought he saw a human shaped form in the darkness. When he looked closer, he thought he saw a person frozen in ice. "Hey! Are you okay?!" He couldn't really see through the ice though, it was so thick and broken but he could definitely see some person within the block of ice. The darkness began to ebb away yet there was no light. He thought he might have seen a hint of a smile from what he could see of the person's face through the ice yet because of it, he couldn't see who it was. As the darkness fully disappeared, the ice and the figure encased within also melted away and before he knew it, Harry was awake once more, still lying on the kitchen floor of the house, curled into a ball.

"What happened?" Harry groaned, a minor headache pounding away at his head. Without really meaning to, he held his hand up to his head and the headache disappeared. He pulled his hand away to look at it in shock, it was covered in a glowing green mist.

"What on Earth?" Harry began to look more closely at himself, something felt different, off, not quite wrong. He was bigger, just slightly though. He wasn't quite so thin and he was about an inch taller than he had been before. "What happened to me? What is this? Is this normal...? I have to get more books but I don't have any mo... Oh." Harry trailed off as he realized with clarity where he'd been just hours before.

"I need to go back, but am I able to? Would I be allowed to? I could try though..." Harry concentrated on the general appearance and location of the obscure alley he'd appeared in when he left the bank.

Breathing in and out deeply, Harry attempted to steel himself and headed out in his worn out second hand clothes. "Let's try this once more..." Heading towards the end of the hall, he spoke to the head goblin.

"Excuse me, I'd like to speak to Lord Ragnok."

* * *

 **A/N: So, I actually don't have much of a note to write but those final bold words are actually a sort of call back to my previous attempts at Harry Potter novel? style fan fictions. I wonder if anyone has been reading/following my stuff since the first story so as to know who the four are. Hehe.**

Edit: The words that Harry hears from the "voice" I always felt was really strangely written and not exactly like how I wanted it to be written but I fixed it now.


	4. Inheritance?

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, but I've been very busy with school and I have limited access to a computer**

 **Please review, it helps me improve the story when I know if I should change something so don't believe that the released product is the final result**

 **I know it's Morgan Le Fay but it just doesn't sound right without that extra syllable which would make it Morgana.**

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 _ **"flashback spoken dialogue"**_

 _ **'flashback thought'**_

* * *

 **Inheritance?**

"Mr. Potter, when you 'left' my office today, I did not expect to see you any time soon," Ragnok spoke in a friendly tone. 'Should I tell him what I've been setting up to do? Couldn't hurt the child anymore than he already seems to be right? It's not like it should or even would hurt him in any way.'

"L-Lord Ragnok, I'm sorry for the mess and damage I've c-caused when I er, 'left', earlier!" Harry stammered out. Though he still felt as powerful as ever, it had quite literally been beat into him that he should apologize for any issue no matter how slight and it compelled him to follow through despite being sure that the Dursleys would no longer harm him. For some reason, Ragnok nor any other goblin felt the need to clear or even clean up the damage Harry had caused with his mini-storm of magic. Breathing quickly to calm down, Harry, through his memory, tried to recall where all the objects were in their original placement and began focusing his energy to move groups of them back to where he believed them to be. It was during this that he seemed to glow green but when looking at the boy directly, it was as though it was a trick of the lights in the room.

Ragnok knew the boy was powerful, but to already have this level of control over wandless magic was unprecedented. To all magical races, the Grand Sorcerer Merlin was known to have the greatest magical power other than the Dark Sorceress Morgana Le Fay but that grew over time through unrelenting practice day in day out. The goblin felt that Harry Potter would reach a similar level of power or more, long before his majority.

When Ragnok's office was pretty much cleaned up, Harry calmed down, sat in the opposite chair, and waited for the goblin to speak. Though he had regained his composure from the great surprise of his client's skillful display of windless magic, the goblin Ragnok still nearly stumbled over his words when he began to speak even after nearly a minute of complete silence. "Well then, Mr. Potter, if we are to do any business, you will have to prove your identity, Gringotts policy. Are you prepared to do this?"

'I have to do this...' Harry contemplated. He knew he had to, to move on to a new chapter in his life in a sense, or else, as he figured, he'd be trapped with the Dursleys for an undetermined amount of time as well as probably losing the opportunity altogether.

Taking short and fast breaths, Harry held the dagger over his palm, closed his eyes, and quickly ran the sharp blade across, the stinging pain radiated from his open wound but only for a second as it closed in a near instant. The dagger had managed to gather more blood than Harry had intended to give it but it didn't matter as it absorbed it all in. It then began to glow green in confirmation but then, to both Ragnok's and Harry's shock, it slowly became a white light that turned into a soft, golden yellow light which, almost as though it were a campfire, basked the room in a warm heat.

When it disappeared, Harry was in a stunned silence as was Ragnok, but the goblin, instead of simply remaining still, burst into action and grabbed the dagger from Harry and stabbed it into an inconspicuous piece of parchment. The blood which had been absorbed by the dagger began leaking out and was then absorbed into the parchment. Words began to appear and though Harry wasn't able to read it from his position, Ragnok of course was able, and remained quiet which worried Harry, thinking maybe he did something wrong and it showed in his expression. He was about to apologize and leave but Ragnok held his hand up to stop him.

"This is an anomaly, Mr. Potter. Through their actions in the first war against the dark lord Voldemort, the Potter family became renowned and before their passing had begun their venture into business, though nothing major, it will allow you to live in comfort. That being said, this blood test really does show that you are who you say you are. However, there's an additional line which shows something ancient, something even I don't know, and I doubt even the current bank head would be able. And you shall learn about the reason why during your time at Hogwarts. We will work on translating this anomaly but in the meantime, I shall tell you of your assets," Ragnok said, pausing to breathe before continuing.

"Your house in Godric's Hollow has been destroyed but you do have a small apartment flat in the Alley previously owned by one Angela Potter about a century and a half ago and has been kept in use as storage since her passing. You have a trust vault and your family's main vault, the latter of which cannot be accessed until you become seventeen, while you are still able to withdraw money from your trust vault which is connected to your family vault."

Harry tried to follow along to the best of his abilities and his newfound power was helping him understand, though why, he was not sure. He felt as though it were translating what he was saying in terms he could understand and continued to listen to Ragnok.

"Now, for you to understand how this works, the Wizarding World uses three types of coins for its currency. The bronze knut, the silver sickle, and the gold galleon. There are 29 knuts in one sickle, 17 sickles for one galleon. In terms of Muggle (non-magical) money, a knut is worth 5 pence, the sickle is worth 1.5 pounds, and a galleon is worth twenty-five pounds," Ragnok explained. "In your trust vault, you have a thousand galleons to use however you wish and is refilled from your family vault at the end of every school year though, as I've told you, it has been inactive for six years. What lies in your family vault is far more than what lies in your trust, though it does not make you very rich, it allows you to live in moderate comfort. It contains about sixty thousand galleons, thirty-two thousand eight hundred and fifty two sickles, and nine thousand and eighty knuts. In Muggle terms, that would be 1551232 pounds. Aside from this, there is also an assortment of books and artifacts. Do you understand all this, Mr. Potter?

Harry gave a half-nod but remained quiet, he felt slightly overwhelmed by the number and so simply waited for the goblin to continue.

"Is there anything else you wish to know or do, Mr. Potter?" Ragnok asked, he could see the stunned look on Harry's face as clear as day and so prompted Harry to speak before he would pass out from what the goblin assumed as overwhelming information for the young boy.

"Is there anything that is directly-" Harry racked his mind for the word he wished to say and after a frustrated minute of silence for both parties in the bank office, he found it. "Related to me apart from my vaults or houses?" Harry didn't know much, but often times when Uncle Vernon was at work, either Petunia or Dudley would be watching or reading stories about the Middle Ages and he overheard a lot from their comments even though it mostly consisted of them mocking the characters for their lifestyle and various other things.

Ragnok looked through his list of files and pulled out a small folder which had the word 'Files & Contracts' stamped in read on the cover. "Let's see here..." The goblin spoke, flipping through as he did so. "Most of these pertain to the Potter family's investments but there is one marriage contract that has been cancelled. It was discovered by your father James the last time he came to file in some investments. If it was pushed to pass, you would have been married to one Daphne Greengrass. Your father, upon discovering this, contacted the still living Lord Corvus Greengrass. It was originally signed about 700 years ago by former minor house head Athelard Greengrass and your ancestor Edmund Potter as an agreement of peace to end the just as minor conflict the two families had over a pig. They weren't too binding with the contract and therefore, though the conditions were only met when you and Ms. Greengrass were born, it was easily annulled."

Harry sighed a half-understanding breath of relief. So his future would not be signed away to some girl he may end up hating. "Is there anything else I may do for you Mr. Potter?"

"Please c-call me H-Harry... Harry, just Harry." Harry replied in a murmur just loud enough for Ragnok to hear.

"Very well, H-Harry Harry just Harry, what other services may the goblins of Gringotts provide to you?" Ragnok wore a small smile, twitching in the goblin's attempt to not laugh. Though the humour was apparent in Ragnok's eyes.

Harry giggled a little at the joke which calmed his nerves and said in a more confident voice, though stuttering at the start, "C-could I withdraw two hundred galleons please?"

"No need to worry Harry, though the other goblins may look at humans with nothing more than disdain, the Potter family are one of few such peoples who have received our gratitude. From me more so than others as, during the last Goblin Rebellions, my ancestor Ragnok of the Twin Irons and his family were saved by the Potters from annihilation. Even though the relations between the goblin and human races had fallen at the time, it seemed that the Potters looked at everything differently and tried to stay uninvolved as much as they could, acting only when it was to save the lives of innocents on either side. Though it would be wise to remain as polite as you have tried to be, you need not fear us, we are not the blood-thirsty 'creatures' that the ministry, or rather certain individuals in the ministry portray us as, though, I suppose you wouldn't know of that, yes?" Ragnok told Harry in response to the fear he could sense in the boy.

"No sir, today is the first time I've actually been to a magical... establishment," Harry spoke, thankful that no stutter managed to invade his speech. "But I have met some other witches and wizards on the street. It seemed very obvious but I've always been told that magic wasn't real and those people were simply hooligans trying to steal money from me and my _family."_

Ragnok noticed the disdain with which Harry spoke the word 'family' but it wasn't his business to interfere in family matters unless requested. "If that is all, then Harry, I bid you farewell, and I recommend your first purchase to be a trunk..."

* * *

Harry didn't head to the small flat in Diagon Alley, he simply felt that he wasn't able to live on his own yet at his current stage of life though he sincerely wished he could. When he did return, the Dursleys had yet to return from wherever they had been scared off to. He had bought a trunk that had been charmed to be permanently feather-light and resizable for travel purposes as Lord Ragnok had recommended. Harry had ended up buying, from Flourish and Blotts, what he'd been told was the current first two years of Hogwarts and the basics in the electives along with several different history books and other books on the current workings of the British magical community.

He noticed there were many groups of books about him and though there were only one or two about the _Fall of Voldemort_ and various theories of how he, Harry, survived the unsurvivable killing curse, the rest were all about his supposed great adventures against goblin armies, hordes of orcs, thunders of dragons which he felt was just ridiculous and though he didn't do it, he truly wished to burn them all. His parents were the ones who sacrificed their lives to save him and protect the community from Voldemort and everyone seemed to focus on only him. He was only a child for crying out loud! Luckily, Ragnok had helped Harry disguise himself with a very simple Muggle cap and glasses to avoid the swarms of unknowing witches and wizards.

Harry went to Dudley's second room and began making room for himself after he'd grabbed his few clothes from his cupboard and waited for his abusive family to return. All the events of the day, the adrenaline that had been rushing through him finally drained him, allowing Harry to finally feel his exhaustion. He lied upon his cousin's small bed and thought back to what Ragnok had said about his family line. There was an anomaly? It was ancient, so was it a code of sorts? Or was it some type of magic that no one knew about? Harry, feeling too tired to think too much, waited, though his efforts were for naught as he soon fell asleep.

The only dream Harry remembered vividly that night were filled with creatures that had massive eyes, sharp ears, and small bodies. They were all telling him something but for some reason he couldn't hear them, could not understand. Behind the massive group of all these tiny creatures though was a very dark presence, a woman with purplish skin and dark violet hair. He couldn't see her eyes but he saw an evil smirk on her full purple lips. ' _Who is this? Where is this? What are these... creatures?'_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Yea, seriously though, I wasn't sure how to write this chapter, I don't really plan it out but I'll try to keep updating even if updates are few and far in-between. Probably incorrectly worded idiom or w/e. Also the money conversions I don't really care about. I found it from another fanfic but I can't remember what it was called, though I'm sure I could find it after going through tens upon tens of other fanfics…**_

 _ **Also, just a Harry Potter fan fiction... opinion: I'm not necessarily against the idea but I really don't like how so many Harry Potter pics always have it so that Harry and/or the Potter family is so ridiculously extremely wealthy, with many houses, manors, or castles throughout Britain and the rest of the world and it just feels so over the top. Even if the story is good, it just bugs me so much. I know it's fanfic and it should be different from canon in some ways but so few fics, not that I've seen any, follow canon in terms of how the actual Potter family is, or at least what the wiki which updates according to Pottermore apparently, is. As in how the Potter family, until the 20th century, was rarely if ever at the forefront of magical society.**_

 **Edit: I've had a lot of time to think about this along with the reviews I've gotten for this chapter and I realize now that I did indeed make Harry somewhat poor, I apologize, however, I did explain why they were not as rich as a lot of people tend to expect from fanfictions so please re-read the chapter if you're confused as to why I made it this way. I will change the number but it won't be nearly as significant as one will expect because it'll actually fit the number that others have found even though the numbers are slightly different.**

 _ **Thanks for reading, and please leave a review, it helps me to understand what I should improve or change.**_


	5. The Third

**A/N: Remember, Harry is still only 6 in the last chapter, he's not going to remember everything so don't freak out when he forgets anything. Just a note to... Think about.**

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 _ **"flashback spoken dialogue"**_

 _ **'flashback thought'**_

Regarding the above bits, I will probably end up not following them through completely.

* * *

 **The Third**

 **2 years later, 13th of May, 1988**

"Vernon, the Fosters are moving to America next week, they told me after you'd left for work this morning," Petunia said suddenly during their tense dinner. Though, in Harry's mind, it has been tense ever since his power almost literally exploded out of him two years ago. He'd studied a lot of magic in that time and he was sure he was doing quite well.

"Oh? And why is that?" Vernon replied in a strained voice. The fact that Harry was eating with them as though they were one big happy family was seriously grating at Vernon's nerves.

"Word around the neighbourhood is that the /head/ of the house, you know Mark." Harry tuned out the sound of their gossip as he focused on eating his larger than normal dinner that Petunia had begrudgingly cooked for him so he could return to the room he'd taken over, two years prior to the current day. Otherwise, Harry was ignored completely and he didn't like it. Harry saw how happy his relatives were, and he felt empty, wishing to feel the same happiness that they did without him being around.

After dinner, Harry silently thanked his aunt and went to his room.  
Settling down upon his back, focusing the energy, magic, around a group of dice he'd bought and forced them to spin around in the air like the planets.  
After a year of constant practice, Harry's magic no longer cast a slight, glowing green light as he had enough control over his magical output, in the case of Lord Ragnok's office, it had been invisible only because he, Harry, was trying to restrict as much of his magical output as he could, though it was like trying to hold a flood back.

He had wondered about the massive amount of magic he'd been forcing out of himself. Though none could see it after that first week, all the technology around the house began to barely work and Harry figured out that it must have been his magic messing with it. He knew it as clear as day as his excess had built up in the house. So Harry began taking control of all the individual bolts and forced it out of the chimney, as he wished to avoid a total melt down, where it floated, covering the neighbourhood like a cloud.

Harry felt alone. Very alone. His 'family' was, as usual, terrified of him and his power and he wasn't allowed to do it outside where he could simply share the experience. He wondered who would some day be moving into the soon-to-be empty Number 7 house. It was a little surprising. In the 5 years since he could remember of his 8, no one had ever moved away from the clone houses of Little Whinging, Privet Drive.

Whoever it was going to be, Harry was sure that the Dursleys still downstairs would poison their minds with harsh falsehoods about himself and then life would carry on as it always was before the Foster family moved out. Harry sighed resignedly and decided to go to sleep for the day, thinking to later bury himself in some new books he'd bought just a short while ago.

* * *

 **A month later, 7th of June, 1988**

"Vernon, the new residents of Number 7, their last name is Taylor, there's not much known about them, what do you think we should do?" Petunia asked excitedly, a cynical gleam in her eyes.

Vernon gave Harry a once-over and snorted mockingly. "What we always do, tell them the /truth/ about the boy after we've built ourselves into their good graces," the whale of a man said, a quick glance later and he burst out laughing at Harry's strange and broken down expression. Petunia giggled into her hands while smirking at Harry for his misfortune.

Harry sighed to himself mentally and continued eating, albeit at a faster pace. He wanted to fall into the deepest sleep to avoid what he was just reminded of what would happen and so he'd take a long jog to exhaust himself. He had completely forgotten about the new family moving in and also had been studying on what he supposed was fourth year theory in ancient runes as well as some charms and transfiguration. Maybe there was a chance that he'd run into them or at least see what these Taylors were like before he turned in for the evening.

Harry transfigured his clothes into a suitable jogging outfit, placed a glamour charm upon his face, and headed out. He went and he went, at first just avoiding the house, his breath coming out in quick gasps as he was not yet used to exercise for extended periods of time, though Harry did try. And try he did, for by the time he returned back to Little Whinging an hour later, he was so exhausted that he wasn't thinking straight. Not only was he now on the other side of the street, but he was also heading towards the same house he'd been thinking about. Awareness did dawn upon Harry though and he nearly shouted in surprise when he felt it.

He had felt the energy of magic within one of the residents of the houses to his side. His head snapped up to look. 'Number 7! But there's only one? This girl's parents are home so that means she's a-' Harry paused to drag the word back to the surface of his memory. 'Muggle-born? But what is this feeling I have?' Harry jumped back into action in the slowest possible way, the reminder that he the exhaustion weighing heavily upon his body flared up. 'You know what, no, it's nothing. So she's a witch, so what? That feeling must just be me hoping that she wouldn't hate me. It won't matter once the Dursleys talk to her and her parents.' Harry sighed quietly and disappeared back into his room with a quiet pop. The Dursleys had not noticed his disappearance for the hour that he'd been gone. 'It's not like I matter... right?' Harry thought with a sigh, his eyes began to tear up but he quickly dried them on his towel.

After a quick shower, Harry lied upon his bed and fell asleep with a heavy heart.

No later than a day had passed and just as Harry expected, the new family of Number 7 Privet Drive, the Taylors, stared at him suspiciously as though he were about to do something awful as he ran by. It hurt to know that the Dursleys had managed to convince them of 'delinquency.' He supposed that, with the Dursleys, if one were to live there in Number 4 as a permanent guest, then they did not deserve happiness in any capacity. Harry finally accepted this truth wholeheartedly and slowed down, preparing to turn around to return to what he referred to as his 'place of residence.'

As he did, a small girl with strawberry blonde hair and round blue eyes ran past, knocking Harry to the ground, hard. She continued running but shouted, "Sorry!" apologetically back at him. It was the Muggle-born girl.

Harry began to cry quietly while muttering in frustration. He felt the contemptuous gazes of the many house-wives from the other 'Numbers' through the windows and ran back to Number 4, the contemptuous glares following him until he disappeared from sight.

"That boy didn't step out of the way for the Taylor child, what a brute! Not making way for that kind young lady!" exclaimed one resident of Number 5.

Even after an hour, the tears did not stop coming, but Harry didn't feel like he should. He never was supposed to show any sort of emotion lest he be beat, or at least, that's how it was two years ago. Harry thought maybe he had a subconscious hope that somehow he'd be able to befriend the magical girl and her family but he now knew it was going to be a fruitless endeavour.

"Show nothing huh? Show nothing, can I do it?" The hint of a 'shadow' began to grow upon young Harry's face as he forced himself to try and learn the Dursleys' "lessons." Remembering all he faced at the hands of his "caring" family and Dudley's friends, the 'shadow' began to take form. Remembering all the pain he felt from these experiences and the 'shadow' that formed caused Harry's tears to stop falling. Remembering all his hopes from the breaks in between each "lesson" allowed the 'shadow' to grow completely and take hold of the muscles that controlled Harry's facial expressions. Harry's face now resembled the seemingly neutral faces of some famous paintings he had once seen, without a hint of anything behind his dull, blank green eyes.

* * *

 **Two weeks later, June 23, 1988**

Harry was steadily making his way through the last of his fourth year material. After just a minute within completing his read, he started writing out a string of runes and a list of spells he'd place around his room on a scrap piece of paper. These were just the beginning wards and spells he'd place once he found a new home some day.

"As of now, I need a thousand times more than what I have here." Harry paused in thought. He had asked the workers at Flourish and Blotts how often the curriculum at Hogwarts changed and they'd told him that of every other course, only Defence Against the Dark Arts' books had something different every year due to some unknown curse.

The other classes changed only once every three years due to some new discovery in its field. The one exception was History of Magic as its professor was a ghost who only ever taught about the goblin rebellions in the last 200 to 300 years. _" **Is it possible for you to owl me whenever a change is made?"** Harry asked in a blank tone which made the young girl working the counter shiver at the dull voice and dead eyed look that Harry gave._

 _ **'No child should be like this!'** she thought, frightened. Forcing her best smile upon her face, the girl said, **"Y-yes, we just need an address."**_

 _She provided the notice form upon which he wrote his address and the specific room as well. Returning it over to the shop girl, Harry thanked her, paid for his books, and left. At this, the girl let out a quiet sigh of relief, the boy terrified her, no one so young should ever look or sound like he did._

And so Harry continued to review his old books, study the ones he was still in the progress of reading, and practice casting that magic with his wandless magic for the next two years. He had requested that the Dursleys take him out of the public school so he could study in private. His relatives, true to form, told the neighbours that they would attempt homeschooling him in an attempt to "put him onto the right path" to make themselves look better. 'Oh I'm being home-schooled alright, just not by them,' Harry thought.

The sound of fluttering wings nearby drew Harry's attention to the window but there were no birds in sight, the sound had come closer and closer but no owl ever showed itself, instead, the sound of the owl's wings steadily began fading away. Harry being confused by this, put more power into his dark-sight and the colour of blood erupted into view. A blood-red ward was covering the property of Number 4. Within the blood-red bubble that was the ward, Harry saw several other layers but the ones he could read was the owl-redirection ward and a ward that was tied to him that seemed to be powered by his own core.

Realization came to Harry in the form of shock. "So that's what that was, I knew I wasn't able to use it all, it was being taken by this ward!" He looked at the ward and followed the light of it down towards himself. He placed his hand onto the magic threads of the ward and sent a shockwave rippling through it, causing the rest of the ward to ripple in turn, destabilize, and shatter into a million pieces before disappearing with a quiet flash of blood-red light. As the energy of the area began to calm, Harry kept watching for anything suspicious, putting more power into his sight to see magic that would come and go in an instant. He wasn't disappointed when a small flash of black magic covered the front yard of the house which disappeared to reveal a tall man in very colourful and decorative purple and blue robes. The man had a long white beard and half-moon glasses.

Wary of this man who apparated not too soon after his magical dismantling of the ward around the house, Harry slowly made his way down to the front door in preparation for this visitor's intrusion. The old man with the long white beard just continued to stare at the window where Harry's room was as he muttered indiscernible words with his white-brown wand. The blood-red ward that was connected to Harry began to form from the end of the old man's ward and began searching for something. As the energy from the wand made its way towards Harry, he decided it was not worth it to find out what would happen if the ward reconnected to him. Harry grabbed the energy with his magic and forced it back into the intruder's wand, causing it to burn up and begin to smoke, flashing with a bright light from the backlash of energy. The old man had been sent flying from the small blast that erupted from his wand into the middle of the road of the Privet Drive area while his wand lay smoking on Number 4's lawn. The old man summoned the wand back to his hand silently, nearly dropping it as he felt the heat from the still smoking piece of wood. The old man figured it was not a good time to try again and disappeared with another flash of black light.

"Who was that?" Harry whispered to himself, he went back to his room and was glad that the Dursleys somehow heard none of the racket that had been made. The old wizard who had attempted to recreate the ward that had been tied to his core looked familiar somehow, yet he could not figure out when and where he had seen him.

He noticed movement from across the street and fine-tuned his dark-sight to see closer, He saw the outline of a small girl with a bright ball of blue flame that was her core within her, running to Number 4. "Interesting..."

He apparated to the closest streetlamp and watched her flattening herself against the outer front wall as she continued to look up, also at his room. Apparating once more, he decided to be less than perfect with his teleportation and announced his arrival to just behind the girl who spun around so fast it was almost as though she hadn't spun at all and that she had always been facing the way she was now.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, loud enough in his deadened voice so the girl could hear.

"I-I'm Allison," the girl replied. She felt fear as his blank eyes bore into her blue ones and she couldn't help answering him.

"Why are you here?" he asked again.

"I saw some f-flashes of light but my mum and dad didn't notice at all so I j-just had to come and look to see what was happening," Allison answered again, being to quiver in fear as it seemed like Harry's lifeless eyes grew wider to engulf her in that empty darkness that emanated from them. "They said it was all my imagination but that can't be true can it? I-I-I, no, we m-moved to Privet Drive because I did something weird back in my old neighbourhood and we were chased out by people who saw me do it! I'm not crazy, I swear!"

Harry could now see that the emotions he could see from Allison was both fear and wonder at what she was experiencing. He still remembered how Allison had knocked him down a couple weeks back, though he did remember the sincerity in her voice when she apologized. "I suppose it's alright to be curious, but you should not be here, go back to your house before I take you back," Harry ordered in the same monotone that he'd been speaking with for the last couple of weeks.

"No! I need to know what that was, what all of this is! And what I did!" Allison whined quietly, stamping her feet.

Harry sighed just as quietly. "I guess I'll have to take you back then," he said. Harry made to reach for her hand and, just as he grasped her right hand in his right hand, a bright warmth began emanate from their clasped hands. Allison tried to pull away and began to whine louder.

"Let go of me!" she said loudly.

"I'm trying!" Harry said loudly in response, though it was just loud enough to be heard over the din that was being created from whatever magic was surrounding them. A bright light flashed from within their clasped hands and a silver chain began to intertwine itself beginning from their hands. It wound itself from their hands before linking itself all the way to their heads. After this, twin rings of silver light grew around the child witch's and wizard's heads before sinking down to the ground. The two had attempted to break free of whatever magic was taking place here but were absolutely frozen and therefore, they could not move. As the twin rings of silver light hit the ground, they expanded to touch each other, combining into one bigger circle and grew to encompass both of them. The din of the acting magic disappeared all of a sudden and the silver rings disappeared as well with one final flash of silver light.

With the sudden unexpected return of control to their bodies, both Harry and Allison ended up falling onto their backs with an "Oomph!" from the both of them.

"Uh-oh..." Harry muttered, the voices of the Dursleys as well as the rest of the neighbours could be heard.

"What? What was that? What's wrong?" Allison whispered to Harry, panicked.

"You... I know you... You..." Harry got up and apparated Allison back into her house before apparating back into his own. Harry heard two groups of witches and wizards appear as they made their way throughout the neighbourhood. Based on the colour of the magic Harry saw these witches and wizards cast, he figured they were casting the memory-altering charm "Obliviate" which would erase and/or alter the memories of those whom the spell was cast upon. The Dursleys barged their way into "his" room and were screaming at him.

"BOY! EXPLAIN YOURSELF NOW!" Vernon shouted almost beast-like, though Harry saw no difference. No good human abused a child, especially not one who was his wife's nephew. Harry turned around and, with a small amount of focus, Harry cast three obliviates at his relatives. The spell took immediate effect and Harry noticed that the Dursleys looked confused for a moment before they all quietly left his room, much to his amusement.

Turning his attention back towards the magicals who appeared, he noticed they had already managed to complete their jobs and were making their way to his house and immediately began forcing out waves of a compulsion charm to engulf them. Seeing the two small groups disappear back to wherever they came from, Harry then turned his attention to Allison.

"I know her, I know this girl named Allison," Harry thought aloud in wonder. "Allison Taylor of New Hampshire moved here due to Muggles witnessing her doing accidental magic and driving them out after several days of vandalism and near-fatal violence. She has a talent for charms and has a rubber duck toy she has dubbed, "Sir Duck," and she misses her ex-friend Amber Godfrey. How do I know all this? How?" Harry stared at her window and noticed her staring back.

He closed the window curtains and lied down to sleep, trying to push all thoughts of this mystery witch out of his head, maybe it was all a dream. Maybe he would wake up and there were no Taylors living at Number 7 Privet Drive. Maybe, just maybe all this confusion would all be over by tomorrow morning. But one can only hope, right?

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this took so long to update, I've just been super busy with school. Thank you all for reading, please leave a review, it helps me know what to improve as I write.**


	6. Gathering

A/N: So no great response to the previous chapter but no helpful criticism either.

 **To those asking about Allison: I will not delete her, she isn't soul-bonded to Harry, and she plays a critical role in my story.**

 **I honestly can't write Hagrid's speech patterns so you'll have to imagine a little. Looking back at previous chapters, I read a Pottermore-like thing and apparently one of the former Potters was behind a hair product that is used in the Harry Potter world and this quadrupled the Potter fortune and I apologize for being a hypocrite as you may notice.**

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 _ **"flashback spoken dialogue"**_

 _ **'flashback thought'**_

I tried to make up for not updating for a while by writing basically from Harry talking to Allison to the letter and then getting on the train so there's quite a bit to read, enjoy and please leave constructive criticism, since it helps me be a better writer.

* * *

 **Gathering**

 **26th of June, 1991**

For the next three years, though greatly frowned upon, Allison Taylor tried to get Harry's attention and talk to him about the memories and the strange magical event that occurred. However, unlike Allison, Harry did not want to seek out why it occurred, knowing all the while that it would be useless as they would both inevitably end up at Hogwarts together. Though he knew the basics of her past, there was a change. It was a noticeable difference somehow but Harry just could not think of what it was. 'Whatever the reason, it has to be tied into the 'what' of it all and I may learn of what that magic and this basic knowledge is one day, but I doubt it'll be anytime soon,' Harry thought for a moment.

By this point in time, Harry had finished studying the fifth year OWL material. 'It has taken me three full years... The language changed a little as well as the theory and the difficulty raised to new heights. I wonder what the NEWT material will be like; I just hope this doesn't mean I'll be unable to complete the NEWT material when the time comes.' Harry closed the last of his OWL books shut with a snap, got up from his desk, and stretched the stiffness away from his limbs. "I haven't noticed until now but I've grown a lot, though I'll be just shy of becoming what's considered tall, I'm sure, thanks to the first five years here," Harry commented dryly to himself, staring at his limbs. When he was six years old, he had been very small for his age. Though it hurt at first, once he acquired his power, this magic, he was able to get enough food and the freedom to exercise and managed to grow at an unexpected rate.

Harry went to the bathroom, slinging his face towel over, not seeing any of the Dursleys as it was late afternoon, with Dudley watching TV while Petunia read the paper in the kitchen while Vernon was at work. Harry stared at his reflection in the mirror and sighed. He wondered if his eyesight was simply due to genetics or whether it was because of all of the Dursleys and their friends' beatings that caused enough trauma to his head that dealt Harry an irreparable disorder to his sight. "If only I could've fixed it, but I suppose it's better than being completely blind; it doesn't seem like there's a cure for eyesight, even with magic," he said quietly.

Harry took off his round-rimmed spectacles and placed them off to the side of the sink, quelling the reflex to squint in an attempt to focus his sight. Staring at the blurry green of his eyes reflecting back, Harry let go of his emotions and growled, slamming his fist onto the counter top in frustration. Though his dark-sight allowed him to see, he learned shortly after developing the skill that he still needed his glasses, much to his frustration.

"I don't understand, if my magic kept me from death, then why am I still blind? There has to be something I can do. Maybe there will be an answer when I go to Hogwarts, there has to be..." Steeling his emotions to a startling blankness once again, Harry cleaned up and returned to his room. "Just one more month and Allison will probably become even more persistent when we receive our letters; I hope she doesn't actually think that I know what is going on just because I'm involved."

A sudden tapping on the window caused Harry to shake himself out of his thoughts.

Another tap on the window peaked his interest. A third caused him to groan. "Right now?" Harry went to the window and opened it, seeing Allison in her house on the other side of the street with her window open, with an intense expression gracing her face. The next second, a paper plane sped towards Harry, causing him to duck. The paper plane drove itself into the wall. Sighing, Harry went over and grabbed the paper, unfolded it, and it read, "Tell me!"

Harry focused his magic into the plane and rewrote the message, and sent the plane back to Allison at a slower pace so as not to injure her just in case she did not react in time. A different plane came back to him saying, "No? Why?! It's always no!" Harry held the paper up and made sure Allison was able to see the paper clearly, and burned it. He saw her angry face but he didn't really care to deal with it at the moment. He closed the window with a loud click and shut the curtains. Harry stood there for a second and sighed.

"Should I continue this or open up and try to figure this out?" Sighing again. Harry grabbed some scrap paper and wrote a single word on it. He drew his curtains open and opened his windows just enough and sent the paper speeding towards Allison who had been staring so intensely back at his window as though it would open on its own.

Allison grabbed the paper and read the message. "Soon." She looked up, seeing Harry nod and then close the windows and curtains again.

Several weeks passed by in a flash and, during breakfast, there was the clink of the mail flap opening and closing as well as the sound of the letters falling to the floor. Vernon audibly sighed as he glared at Harry and got up to get the letters. He would've made Dudley get them but he knew that the young boy would just complain about it even though it would be futile because Vernon would not risk pushing Harry to the point he'd reached five years ago in any physical way, however, manipulating others was something he considered safe. "Dad! Harry's got a letter!" Dudley shouted from the foyer.

Petunia rushed out of her chair to grab the letters from Dudley and Harry waited patiently, he knew what it was. "Vernon, it's here," she said, pursed lips, eyes narrowed.

"Harry, get your letter from Petunia," Vernon said in a clearly disgusted voice but made no other move.

Harry in his usual blank expression got up and grabbed the letter, stowed it away in his pocket and continued eating his breakfast without a word. Unless one intensely scrutinized him at that moment, no one would notice the extremely slight curl to Harry's lips which showed his pleasure. 'I'm one step closer.' After clearing up, Harry went back to his room to read the letter. "By the 31st hmm? There's no return owl to return my answer to them though I wonder if that owl will come by any time soon." Harry grabbed some spare paper to write his answer down. "I, Harry Potter, accept my place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... that should do I hope. Now, since I am technically Muggle-born, maybe they'll send a member of staff to explain things or to otherwise get me to Diagon Alley to get my things." Harry was just about to set his pen aside when, not surprisingly, there was a tapping at his window.

"Hey, I got a letter and my parents were extremely excited about it, there's a magical school?" Harry read aloud from the note.

 **oOoOo**

13th of July, 2015

"Hey dad, why exactly did you ignore Aunty Allison?" Athena asked.

"Didn't I already explain it? It was because of the whole magical bond that had occurred," Harry answered.

"Yeah, but, with everything else you've told us, there's more isn't it?"

"Okay, I didn't want to tell you because I still feel insecure about it but it was because I was scared. Scared to explore the future with a potential friend who was in a way similar to me, an outcast. Not exactly irrational as I'd been abused far more that I'd care to tell you about and it left scars deeper than the physical and that stopped me.

Laughing because she was uncomfortable, Dahlia spoke up, "But you did tell us about how Grandma Lily's sister's family nearly killed you, which released your powers, was it really worse than that? That wasn't the worst of the abuse?"

"Yes, it was far worse than that Dahlia, and it seems unlikely because it almost did lead to my murder but there are many things that are far worse than death, don't you forget that Dahlia, Cygnus, Athena, understand?" Harry answered, turning the answer into a question towards his three children who all nodded. Daphne just smiled sadly at Harry who continued to regale their children with his story of the past.

 **oOoOo**

Focusing, Harry popped into Allison's room causing the girl to turn around with a shocked expression on her face. "Allison, I... I'm sorry for ignoring you these last few years, I just... I won't continue to do so any longer."

"I was thinking maybe you could just tell me more about this magic stuff but this? I did not see that coming, Harry, but let's talk about that shall we and can you drop that expression? You're scaring me," Allison finished in response to Harry's emotionless face.

"Right, sorry, it's been so long that I forget I'm holding it sometimes," Harry said, dropping his mask and giving a somewhat genuine smile which hurt because it'd been a very long time since his last true smile. "In regards to why I've ignored you for so long, please don't take this the wrong way but I'm not ready to tell you that yet. Maybe someday, just not now, alright?"

"O-okay!" Harry could see as clear as day the disappointment in her eyes.

"Back on topic then, what exactly is Hogwarts, how does it work? You know about this, don't you?"

"Of course, I know a lot, the school is a magical boarding school based in the highlands of Scotland, nearby there is the all-magical only village of Britain called Hogsmeade. Now, once inside the castle, everyone is sorted into one of the four distinct houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each are described with specific traits: Gryffindor by bravery, Hufflepuff by loyalty and hard work, Ravenclaw by intelligence, and Slytherin for cunning. There are more but the sorting ceremony will explain it better. Anyhow, there are a multitude of classes such as Transfiguration which teaches us the ability to change things, Charms explains itself as it causes things to work in ways we wouldn't normally be able to do on our own, Potions are basically spells in liquid form and it teaches us how to make them, and the Defense class teaches us how to protect ourselves from the things that could hurt people. There are many more classes but I'm just giving you examples. I'm not actually a teacher at Hogwarts after all," Harry stopped and waited if Allison would ask any questions.

"What house do you think I'd belong to?" Allison asked eagerly, feeling open to ask friendly questions now.

"You thirst for knowledge at the expense of the patience of others," Harry said, digging at Allison's three year relentless drive. "You are able to do a few things not many adult wizards are able to with the practical side of magic, I believe you would be in Ravenclaw."

"Ravenclaw sounds great! Where would you be?"

"Me? I hide from others, I don't like to draw attention to myself, I have knowledge and I like to learn more, and I work hard but anyone can have any of these things. Based on specific traits, I'd most likely be in Ravenclaw or Slytherin, I do not know if I am brave or loyal enough for Gryffindor or Hufflepuff respectively.

"You were able to just teleport easily over here but what else can you do?"

"That is called apparition, the skill for moving from one place to another in an instant while the opposite effect is disapparition which is when a person sees another apparate away from their location. What I can do... that's a different story. Normally, the massive majority of the magical community uses a wand or some type of channel but I don't need to." Harry held out his hand and with the magical energy he held, conjured up a bouquet of flowers.

"Wow! You have to teach me that!" Allison was bouncing up and down in her chair by the window. "How did you do that?"

"Fortunately for non magical people, your parents for example, not everyone is able to do what I can with ease and those that do, I imagine, have kept away from exposing magic to non magical society due to a secrecy act that went up in 1692. There was a war though, lead by a very dark wizard and his war threatened to expose magic to the other side but thankfully he was stopped eleven years ago by me and my family." Harry stopped talking there and Allison was stunned as he started to cry softly. She was about to say something but Harry continued to speak through his quiet sobs. "My parents, James and Lily Potter, sacrificed themselves to save me and when Voldemort turned his wand on me, his spell backfired which gave me this lightning scar, it's faint now and I think a part of that is how I discovered my magic. After that night, I came to live with the people in number four and my life has not been the same, I don't remember much either but I believe Voldemort is still alive... that is all I'll tell you right now, I'm sorry."

Allison didn't see much crying from anybody, she certainly did it when she was hurt and her parents comforted her when they were available but they themselves never did, they were financially stable and had a great relationship and there was happiness present often in her house. When they did comfort her to ease the pain, they hugged her and now she wondered if she should do the same for Harry, someone who, after three years of hiding everything, was telling her so much. She went over to the silent and sullen boy who she felt she knew and pulled him into a hug, which stopped his crying.

Saying nothing, he returned the hug and whispered to her, "thank you."

They pulled apart after several moments where they sat in silence.

Wiping his tears on his sleeve, Harry began to speak again. "There's houses and the classes, but there are also other activities. The most popular sport in the magical world is Quidditch which is a sport played on flying broomsticks, there's Wizard's Chess where you can tell the pieces to move and other fun stuff. There's a lake, a forest too dangerous for any single student to wander into but it, like the rest of the world, contains many dangerous or otherwise beautiful and ugly magical creatures that defy belief, and many other things that you'll just have to experience for yourself, I don't know everything but it's what I've found out on my free time; I've been otherwise occupied with studying."

"I want to go to Hogwarts so badly now! I want to know what you know and I think I already know what I want to do after school!" Allison squealed with excitement a bit too loudly.

"Allison, is something wrong, sweetie?" Came a woman's voice, there was now the notable sound of a person walking up stairs which was getting closer and closer.

"I'm going to go back, write some sort of note that accepts your placement at Hogwarts and I'll talk to you later okay? Thank you Allison," Harry gave her a quick smile and popped away.

"And you as well, Harry."

The door opened and her mother Elizabeth poked her head in. "Allison, is something wrong?"

"No mum, I just thought I saw a bug," Allison replied, giving a wide grin and then remembered. "Right, mum look at this! There's a magical school! I was accepted!"

"A magical school? Let me see!" Allison passed the letter to Elizabeth who quickly read through it. "That's amazing honey! We have to tell your father when he gets home from work! I'll prepare a special dinner for us tonight; I knew you were special!" Elizabeth dashed off, leaving her daughter alone who began to write the note that Harry told her to write.

* * *

 **July 31st, 1991**

"Vernon, it seems like there's a big storm heading in, we won't be affected much but there will still be a lot of rain, do be careful on the road today dear."

"Thank you Petunia; I'll see you all tonight then," Vernon's eyes lingered on Harry for a moment who was just finishing his breakfast.

As always, Harry cleaned up after himself when he finished and decided to go on a quick run around the neighbourhood; he felt the need to do something to ease the excitement he was feeling. Today was the 31st when his response was expected but no owl had ever shown up so someone would probably be sent over to get things done and explained. He imagined Allison and her family would be brought along so that would be an extremely uncomfortable experience.

As he turned around the final corner of the street to head back to Privet Drive, Harry saw that the clouds were really setting in and droplets of rain began to fall. "Shoot, I'm too late."

It was pouring by the time Harry made it back inside and after cleaning up, he bundled up in bed, waiting. The wind picked up and the windows rattled, it got darker and darker and before he knew it, there was a loud, heavy pounding at the front door which jolted Harry out of his sleep, he checked the clock at his bedside and it read 7:38.

"Who's there?!" Vernon shouted from below. Harry jumped out of bed and watched from the top of the stairs. The door slammed open and there stood a giant hairy man. "Mind if I come in? It's a right mess out there ya know."

"Yes I do mind, sir, you are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut it, Dursley! I'm just here to pick up young Harry."

"You better take him away now then! We were never able to beat it out of him! He has kept showing off his freakishness to us and I have had enough!" Vernon spit at the giant.

"Beat? The giant of a man looked up and saw Harry nodding at him. "You dare to beat the child of the greatest witch and wizard aside from Albus Dumbledore?! They saved your worthless lives!"

"Saved? From what? I never saw or heard anything!" Petunia screeched, "I heard that maybe there was some hooligan wizard on the loose but my house never got burned down! We did beat him! That's one way to make your kind a squib isn't it?! She told me you know, she told me all about it, I hated it when she did but it was almost useful, a shame it didn't work and now we can't do anything!"

"It doesn't matter now though," Harry spoke up finally, he figured Hagrid was going to be angry enough to actually break the house down. "Who are you?"

"I'm Rubeus Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts," Hagrid smiled, holding his hand out to shake Harry's who did the same except his entire body was shaken up and down. "I assume y'know all about Hogwarts, yea?"

"Yes I do, I've actually already been down to Diagon Alley before, but I need to go there soon to get my books and things. I just wasn't sure if you were going to come by here, Hagrid. What about the other one?"

"What other one? Oh yea, I came here for two children!" Hagrid said, surprised at himself.

"Other one? Our Dudley is no freak like you!" Vernon and Petunia both spat.

"Nah, not yours, the other child across the street," Hagrid said gruffly, jerking his thumb behind him towards the Taylors' house.

"Their child is a freak? Oh that makes so much sense! Vernon, I knew she was weird, always chasing after him."

"I'll be back tomorrow mornin' Harry and we'll all go to Diagon Alley to pick up yours and the young girl's things for Hogwarts," Hagrid told him and then mumbled under his breath, "You keep insulting their memories and then you'll see what happens," and went lumbering off to Allison's house.

"Then why come today?" Vernon grumbled and shut the door. Harry was already gone, back in his room watching and extending his senses towards her house. Hagrid was inside, explaining a few things about Hogwarts and the Wizarding World but Harry figured Hagrid was holding back information just so he could talk during the trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow.

Hagrid then left their house and vanished. With nothing left to do and his stomach empty, Harry went down to the kitchen where there were a few plates of leftovers. "Petunia, if you hate me so much, why do you keep caring for me? You could have kicked me out years ago."

Petunia who was steadfastly trying to ignore Harry couldn't anymore. "I have no choice, now leave me alone."

 **oOoOo**

 **The next day**

The storm had broken hours after midnight and Harry was finally able to sleep, when everything started again and Harry was prepared to go...

"What's that boy doing here? Hagrid, he's a delinquent, he's known for causing trouble around the neighbourhood, you can't trust him!" Elizabeth said loud enough for the entire group to hear.

"Nonsense! This is Harry Potter! He's a kind boy I'm sure of it!" Hagrid responded with a raised eye.

"It's fine, Hagrid, let's just get going, are we apparating?" Harry said quietly.

As Harry and Hagrid conversed about the plan for the day, Allison pulled her parents aside.

"Mom, dad, you have to stop with this! You don't even know Harry! Don't you remember why we're here in the first place? We moved here because our neighbours saw my magic and began to abuse us! Don't take it all out on Harry!"

"Allison, honey, we're just trying to protect you, you don't know him either, we're not taking anything out on anyone," Allison's dad, Jonathan said in a low voice, keeping a wary eye on the slightly ragged looking black haired boy.

"Really? Have you actually seen anything that shows that he's a horrible child? Have you actually learned who he is? I know what you're going to say," Allison lashed back and shushed her parents when they were about to cut her off. "You've been saying it all to me for three years. It's not just because I want a friend or that he is like me in that we have magic powers, I'm not defending him just because of that, you have to stop and get over it, learn who he is before you pass judgment!"

Allison huffed and walked over to where Harry and Hagrid were waiting. "Is everything okay?" Harry asked, "It's fine you know; I'm used to it."

"No, everything isn't! It's not fine, you shouldn't be used to it at all! Can't you do something about them?" Allison poked Harry hard, Hagrid was just looking confused and waiting.

"Well, I haven't really tried but maybe." For the first time in a long time, Harry enhanced his dark sight beyond just sight and saw a string of spells lined all around the house and on Jonathan and Elizabeth as well. "Well that's interesting," Harry said quietly. "Hagrid, just give me a few minutes alright? I forgot something."

"Sure Harry, we have a lot of time today," Hagrid said with a smile.

Harry ran back into Number 4 where he turned himself invisible and headed back out to the Taylors' house. 'There are about 30 different spells on just the entrance alone but the wiring is easy to see, I should be able to dismantle this web I hope.' Harry drove his magic into every single spell that was a part of the house and the Taylors' clothes and lifted it off them but they didn't disappear, in fact the spells fought hard to reattach themselves. Harry looked over at Hagrid and had a thought. 'Is Hagrid magic resistant? These are only charms and hexes and they're fairly low grade even by an adult's standards.' Harry surrounded all the spells with his own magic and spell knowledge and wound it tightly into a ball and proceeded to throw it towards Hagrid. The ball burst open and the spells wrapped tightly around the half-giant but then broke apart and sizzled out of existence, Hagrid just giggled a little at the feeling which was a strange sound.

The effect was immediate, Elizabeth and Jonathan got headaches from the sudden lack of external control and they fully returned to their own minds and bodies. "Wha-? What happened? Where is the boy?"

Harry reappeared at the front door of Number Four and ran up to them. "Hey sorry for the wait, we can go now, this might hurt you three since it'll be your first time side along apparating."

"What's apparating?" Jonathan asked. Both parents felt extremely guilty and they wanted to apologize but Harry not only didn't answer Jonathan's question nor gave them any opportunity to speak and instead just linked their hands and then grabbed Hagrid's and they all vanished.

* * *

"I think I'm going to be sick," said Elizabeth and Jonathan, Allison seemed shaken but otherwise alright.

"Harry," Allison whispered, "why aren't you talking about what you did? Clearly, they were under a spell right?"

"Hundreds of spells, the way I cut it off from them saved them from a great deal of pain but they're still undergoing a bit of backlash right now, don't worry about it, and I won't say anything until I find out who did it because they could be watching and know that I did it. I don't want to seem narcissistic but I am an important figure to the magical world and any followers of Voldemort who were not caught could be spying on me, don't worry, I can handle it alright?"

"Okay, but I'm still going to worry about you. I've already been trying to understand what that magic was that hit us three years ago," Allison replied quietly.

"When we're not so exposed, maybe we'll know then, now come on, they're waiting for us," Harry ushered Allison forward, her parents finally recovered and Hagrid waited with them.

"You have a lot to talk about, hm?" Hagrid laughed with a wink. "Now, come on, we're almost in the Wizarding side of Britain."

Entering the pub, Tom, the bartender, looked up and with a toothy grin said, "The usual, Hagrid?"

"Not today Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business, two new students for the year," Hagrid made to clap Harry on the shoulder, the latter of which was nowhere to be found and so the half-giant was confused as Allison and her parents were still around, looking at the strange looking people and the decorum.

"Alright, maybe later then, Hagrid?"

"Always, Tom, always." Flashing another smile towards Tom, Hagrid pulled Allison and her parents along towards the gateway that split the magical world from the Muggle world. "Oh there ya are Harry, I was wondering where you were," Hagrid said, relieved.

"I could see that people would swarm me Hagrid; I didn't want any attention, sorry about that."

"It's alright; I understand that myself Harry," Hagrid nodded. "To enter Diagon Alley, you need any Witch or Wizard to tap these three specific spots to open the archway." He showed this to Allison, Elizabeth, and Jonathan who stared in wonder as the bricks of the archway pulled apart to reveal a completely different world. People dressed in robes, cloaks, with fantastical wares and creatures out and about.

"Generally, the first stop in Diagon Alley is Gringotts, which is Britain's main wizarding bank and that is where we'll head first to get things set up for you."

They headed up to the massive white marble building and again, the small family of three stared in awe. There were two goblin guards at the entrance and they nodded, allowing them to pass. Once through, they faced a pair of silver doors and above it was the warning set by the goblins of Gringotts warning all against thievery. The two goblins by the silver doors bowed them through into the Hall where a myriad of goblins were weighing and working gems and coins of various colours but Hagrid took them to the very end of the hall.

"Morning, we've come to take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe, and also to get some money for this new student, Allison Taylor. I've got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore about the you-know-what in vault 713."

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, I assume you have your key? As for you Ms. Taylor, I shall call a goblin to set you up with the bank," The head goblin spoke. "Irontooth, take these three to general accounts Manager Narok and Griphook! Take Mr. Potter and Mr. Hagrid here down to Mr. Potter's vaults."

"You already have your key, Harry?" Hagrid asked, he rumbled around in his large coat and pulled out a small golden key.

"When I first came to the bank, I talked to Lord Ragnok and he issued me a new key and changed the lock so that key won't work anymore, how did you have that key, Hagrid? I recall Ragnok mentioning something about Dumbledore holding onto it, did he give it to you to give to me?"

"Yea, he said that's how we would get down to your vaults, he never said anything about you already having a key..." Hagrid said in confusion.

"That's alright; I'll see you three in just a few minutes," Harry said to the Taylor family and headed through another door with Hagrid and the goblin named Griphook.

As they descended the track in the cart, Hagrid immediately started looking green and Harry just hoped the man wouldn't spew out all over the cart and so kept his mouth shut. The twists and turns often did make Harry dizzy but it was slight and he was used to it by now. Harry unlocked the vault door and withdrew a handful of each type of coin and placed it into the moneybag he brought along. Hagrid gave Harry a thumbs up as the boy climbed back into the cart and Griphook locked it back up, once all three passengers were back in the cart, it sped off deeper into the tunnel until they arrived at Vault 713. Griphook unlocked the door and grabbed whatever was inside, Harry thought maybe it was some sort of tightly but messily wrapped object but Hagrid had blocked his view. Griphook then handed Hagrid the item who quickly pocketed it and once they were again situated in the cart, it sped off much more quickly towards the surface.

"I'll see you later Harry, I've got to take care of something else at the Leaky Cauldron for the moment," Hagrid said, and he ran surprisingly quickly off.

"Hey, Harry, where did Hagrid run off to? We just set up a small account for Allison here and now we need to get her things," Elizabeth said quietly. At the moment, she wasn't sure what was real, for now, she would try to be nice to the boy. Though minor, there were many compulsion and memory charms but since they were lifted, the effects allowed for all that were affected to think moderately straight.

"Don't worry, I know the place, the first place we should head to is Madam Malkin's shop for uniforms. It's all personally tailored for each student so it'll take longer than any of the other stores." Harry lead the trio of constantly in-awe family towards the clothing shop.

"Hogwarts? There's another young man being fitted up right now," said the witch who all presumed to be Madam Malkin, a squat, smiling witch dressed in mauve.

The group was led to the back of the shop where a pale, blonde boy was currently being fitted. Harry and Allison were stood atop stools and a robe was slipped over them by Madam Malkin who started to make the correct measurements. "I see you're Muggle-born aren't you? Tch, I can see it you know, your parents back there, normal witches and wizards don't usually follow their children in here and your clothes, where did you even get them?" The blonde boy immediately began to speak, insultingly and condescendingly. Jonathan made to get up and speak a few words to the boy but Elizabeth held her husband back, she didn't want to make a scene in this new world.

"Now, now, there's no need for that kind of talk!" Madam Malkin interjected and said to the pale blonde boy. "You're done, my dear." The rude boy walked away to a woman who was waiting by the entrance of the shop.

"Who was that and why was he so rude?" Allison said loudly in annoyance.

"I can only assume that's one of the more pure-blooded families, what I mean is that the boy comes from a line of witches and wizards that are purely magical with no non-magicals such as your parents. A few of them assume that blood is power and think that anyone with impure blood is lesser than them as well. I don't know quite how prevalent they are in this society though," Harry explained.

"You two dears are done as well, come to the front and I'll bag your robes for you."

There was a series of loud thuds from outside the store and Harry saw that Hagrid had come back with a bunch of ice cream for them. He was grinning at the family as he held up the treats for them to see. The group headed to get their basic equipment and ate the ice cream in silence. "Mr. Hagrid?" Jonathan spoke suddenly, "You've been living in this world for a while, yes? Do you know about the pure blood families? We'd just met a very rude blond boy in Madam Malkin's shop."

"Ah, yes that would probably be one of the Malfoy clan, they are very high up in our magical society, very old fashioned, very into the notion of pure blood meaning strength and status. After acquiring their things from Flourish and Blotts (Allison was very much dragged away from the huge shelves stocked with books), they headed to the potions shop where they acquired their potions equipment and ingredients. The group all pinched their noses, it did not smell that great in the shop and Johnathan almost started gagging and only Hagrid was unaffected.

They all took deep breaths as they left the shop and started laughing because of how funny they all found the situation, a world of magic and they couldn't even spell away the smell?

"For one last stop, we should get you two your wands and OH! Right! I almost forgot, I haven't gotten you a birthday present Harry, listen, we'll stop by Eeylops Owl Emporium to pick up an owl for you two, they're dead useful and can help you communicate while you're at Hogwarts," Hagrid clapped his hand to his forehead. Once at the store, Harry immediately noticed a snowy white owl that was trying to stay hidden in its cage. He attempted to approach it when it froze and pretended it was dead. Harry cocked his head to the side, curious at the bird's mannerisms.

Seeing that the bird wasn't moving anymore, Harry said aloud to the shopkeeper, "Excuse me, miss? Why is this owl acting like this?" Harry speaking caused the rest of the group to look up and also see the owl.

"Oh that one? No one really knows, but she showed up one day and has refused to go with every customer who has walked passed those doors ever since," she replied sadly. "Though from what I can guess, she was previously owned and was abused by them as when she had shown up, she was covered in wounds not made by any animal. You can try to get it to come with you but I have never seen it budge."

"Alright..." Harry said, he then, while cutting off everything except for the owl and himself, began speaking in a quiet voice, "Hey there, I don't know what your life was like but, I was hurt a lot once too; it took a lot for me to even talk to that girl over there and she's just like me." The snowy white owl opened an eye to look right at Harry. "I was hurt very badly, physically and mentally you know, all I can remember is loneliness and pain given to me by my family; I can understand if you won't but if you come with me, I'll make sure to protect you and take care of you." The owl opened another eye and lifted its head from the floor of its cage just slightly. Harry lifted his fringe and showed the now attentive owl his faint lightning scar. "I lost my parents when I was just one year old to the man who gave me this, I imagine it must be quite lonely here yea? Come with me?"

He placed his hand against the cage and the owl got up and hopped to where Harry was standing, gave a single hoot and tapped its head against the bars. "Very well." Harry ended the magic block and everything else immediately came rushing back. The shopkeeper and the rest of the group were in a stunned silence. Though they heard nothing, they felt they already knew what happened, Hagrid was smiling widely.

"I often order a lot of the creatures that are bought here from other places around the world and the country but she came here on her own so she costs not even a single knut, just care for her," the lady said with a smile.

Taking the cage off its hook, Harry looked down at the bird with a smile. "I will."

Elizabeth and Jonathan shook themselves out of their stillness and ushered Allison to choose an owl as well. "There's a lot though! Who do I choose?"

Elizabeth crouched down and said, "Whichever owl seems right to you, Allie."

Allison walked passed the many cages but each bird seemed content to mind its own business. About halfway down the group of cages, she saw a Northern hawk-owl that followed her every movement. "This owl, he's the one!" Paying the shopkeeper, the group left the store and Hagrid immediately began talking.

"That was incredible Harry! Whatever happened there Harry, you and that owl will definitely be more than just simple friends, you'll be partners!" Elizabeth and Jonathan now felt even more guilty for what they'd said and done to Harry for the last three years even though they still had no idea that they'd been under a mass of spells and now both were terrified to talk to him.

"Alright, let's go to Ollivanders, the only real place to get wands around here!"

The storefront read "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C."

Inside, there were thousands of long thin boxes stacked upon each other but no one was in sight and the air tingled with magic. It was mysterious and Harry figured it was due to the way wands worked. "Good afternoon," a soft voice said which caused everyone but Harry to jump, a loud crunching sounded from the corner where Hagrid had been sitting.

An old man that they all presumed to be Ollivander stood before them. "Hello, I expected to see you soon Harry Potter, you have your mother's eyes. It's as though she were only here yesterday buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inch long, swishy and made of willow. A nice wand for charm work." The man said all that without blinking which was creeping out Elizabeth. "Your father favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches long, pliable, and more power which was excellent for transfiguration. Your father favoured it though really it's the wand that chooses the wizard, of course." The man leaned forward and got really into Harry's space but the child did not lean away. "I'm sorry to say that I sold the wand that did it, thirteen and a half inch long. A very, very powerful wand made of yew wood and in the wrong hands... if only I'd known what that wand would do..."

"Ah, and it seems we have a new Witch to welcome to the Wizarding world, welcome Miss and - Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! It's so nice to see you again, yours was sixteen inches long, made of oak, and was rather bendy wasn't it?" Allison smiled at the friendly old man whose creepy atmosphere seemed to disappear.

"It was sir, yes," Hagrid said.

"It was a good wand but I suppose they snapped it in half when you were expelled?" Ollivander asked, suddenly serious.

"They did, yes," Hagrid had been carrying a pink umbrella but the group hadn't paid much mind to it and he gripped it very tightly as he spoke.

Humming, Ollivander gave Hagrid a sharp look and then began to measure Harry and Allison with tape measures. "Which is your wand arm?"

"I'm right-handed," Harry and Allison both said. Ollivander gave Harry a strange and inquisitive look.

"Hold out your arm, that's it." The wand maker measured them from shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and around their heads. While measuring, Ollivander explained, "Every Ollivander wand has a powerful magical substance for cores such as unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and dragon heartstrings. No wands are the same such as any other creature are quite the same. As such, you'll never get as good results with another's wand as with your own.

"That'll do," He said, and the measure that had been working by itself fell into a heap on the floor. "I'll first start with Mr. Potter. Try this one, beech wood and dragon heart string. Nine inches, nice and flexible, just take it and give it a wave."

Harry picked it up and when waved, it gave off nothing more than a spark and Ollivander immediately took it back. It went on like this for a half hour and still no wand reacted with more than a spark. Elizabeth, Jonathan, and Hagrid all looked at this with strange curiosity and boredom. "Hmm... try this, holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." When Harry took the wand and waved it, it burned up and disintegrated into nothingness.

"That is indeed strange, Mr. Potter, I assumed that your association with Voldemort would've worked with that wand as that is the brother to his wand." Hagrid shook a little. "Come with me."

Ollivander disappeared behind a shelf and Harry followed him to another door which opened up to a small workshop with boxes labelled with different kinds of woods and other materials. "I suppose you have more than just an ordinary wizard's power Mr. Potter?"

"How did you know that?" Harry asked, immediately on alert. His hand raised, white magic condensed into a ball.

"Don't you worry, Harry Potter, I am older than you think and as a wandmaker, this sort of thing is instinctual to me, those with great powers always give off a different air but even then, you're different. Your magic is far more different than anything I've ever experienced. You remind me of Albus Dumbledore, he's an extremely powerful and skilled wizard and his magic feels different as well, it's a rare feeling that I, of course, never see much. This problem stems from the fact that the wands I normally make are meant to deal with the type of energy that regular witches and wizards use but if I switch the wood and core with an ancient or extremely rare material, they should be able to channel your magic efficiently. You may not see any use for a wand with your power but a wand is always far more efficient in channeling magic and casting spells though you don't need any incantation if you're skilled enough and could simply use the wand. Now... what should I use?"

Ollivander went to the back wall of the tiny workshop and a network of lines flashed into existence and like the archway to Diagon Alley, the wall pulled apart to reveal another place, a smaller storage.

"Who are you, Mr. Ollivander?" Harry asked, his curiosity was definitely peaked now.

"I may be mysterious and old, Harry Potter, but I assure you I am just an old man with a lot of knowledge." The old man took one good look at Harry again and began to open several boxes. "Your magic gives me the feeling of elves but not like the house elves that serve Hogwarts or rich families but something even more ancient..." Ollivander showed Harry what seemed to be a deep dark red wood. "For your wand, we'll use Faerie Wood, as the name suggests, it is wood from the once prosperous land of the Fae race but they fell during the time of Merlin, an ancestor of mine, who was a thief and stole this precious wood right from under their noses. It was left with another of my family before he was hunted down and killed by the Fae guard and to this day, none of my family knows why he did this. I never used it because it never felt right but now maybe it is right for you."

Ollivander then, with a pair of tweezers, held up a platinum blond thread. It seemed like normal blond hair to Harry. The core we'll use is this. It belonged to a once proud magical race but they disappeared from the earth and no one knows who or what they were and no one in my family knew where these platinum blonde fibers came from. I assume by your reactions to the wood and the core that they feel right for you? That they feel like your own magic?" Harry had been nearly overwhelmed by the magic pouring from the wood and the core, it was as though the materials had chosen him already, even though they weren't made into a wand yet and nodded.

"Alright, now crafting a wand does take time so I shall not take the time of your friend and her parents any longer, we shall start with her wand first and I will personally deliver your wand to you later in the day."

Harry was still in a state of shock from the magic and so he didn't notice that he didn't tell Ollivander his address. Once a shower of sparks entered his line of sight and he shook himself to clear his head. "Oh wonderful, it seems that wand has chosen you Ms. Taylor! That will be seven galleons."

Passing over the big gold coins and pocketing the purchase, the group decided not to pressure Harry for answers as they headed off. "Why aren't we, er, not apparating back?" Elizabeth asked as they headed to the train station with their things.

"It's extremely difficult to transport huge loads with just apparition, Mrs. Taylor," Harry said quietly.

"Oh I guess that's a thing that, because size and travel even with magic..." Elizabeth said back but stopped, feeling very awkward.

At the train stop, Hagrid handed Allison and Harry a ticket each. "Your tickets for Hogwarts," he said. "First of September at King's Cross, it's on your tickets. See you soon Harry, Allison." The train arrived and as they got on, Elizabeth and Jonathan turned to say goodbye to the friendly half-giant but just as they did, Hagrid vanished.

* * *

As Harry was relaxing in bed, Petunia came knocking. Harry sat up and waited for whatever she wanted to say. "This box was left by the front door, there was no one around, I think it's a wand." She tossed it to Harry and left, closing the door behind her. Hedwig had been sleeping in her cage but woke up due to the noise.

Harry opened the box and within was the dark red wand. It gave off a feeling of incredible familiarity and even Hedwig seemed to notice this. Harry picked up the wand and at first there was nothing but soon he felt a burning sensation grab at his body and at his magic; it burned like nothing Harry had felt before but when the pain ebbed away, he felt that the wand had linked itself to him so that only he could use it unlike ordinary wands. Harry felt only a comforting, familial warmth. He gave it a wave and a series of multi-coloured sparks appeared from the tip. "This is definitely the one, Hedwig."

The snowy white owl gave a happy hoot and went back to sleep. Harry placed the wand back into the box and placed it upon his desk. He was surprised Allison hadn't come knocking but it was probably because of all the new things she had to read and study.

Harry completed his normal daily routine and went to sleep for the day. For the first time in years, Harry dreamed once more about the purple-skinned woman and the tiny creatures with big eyes and sharp ears that he now knew were house elves. 'But why house elves?' He thought. 'What exactly is it about house elves?'

The scene changed and he thought he saw that same woman battling what appeared to be an old wizard. Each magical blast by either side was met with equal force and neither gave ground. The foggy image of the dream cleared away just a little to reveal that there was more than just the wizard. Though it didn't show their faces, these wizards were tall and slender and aiding the first wizard in the fierce battle against this woman. The woman cast a bright light which blinded the group but the first wizard managed to shield himself from being affected, then the woman cast another spell that was aimed at the group aiding her enemy.

Even in the dream/vision that Harry was seeing, he could tell that it affected the entire world and the screams were horrible. Before they fell entirely to the magic's effects, the creatures gathered their power and cast a mysterious spell with no particular direction in mind and it dissipated. Before any more could happen, Harry woke up and it was morning. "Another mystery to figure out once I'm at Hogwarts, I have absolutely no idea where to start."

* * *

The rest of August passed by in a flash and he met up with the Taylors. They had offered to take Harry down to King's Cross two weeks before and he'd accepted. That day was memorable, Harry didn't really expect that day to happen.

 **oOoOo**

 ** _"Harry, my husband and I, well, John are too afraid to face you at the moment but we're both extremely sorry for what we'd done to you these last few years. We didn't even bother looking past the words of others to know you for who you truly are and we treated you like a murderer. I'm so sorry, what we did is inexcusable."_**

 _Harry was standing stunned, Elizabeth Taylor was apologizing. He figured that after he'd told Allison that she would tell them they were under a lot of spells._

 _ **"It's-,"** Harry began to say but she cut him off._

 _"I **t is not fine, Harry! No child should be shunned like that and we want to make it up to you, for starters, how about John and I, take you along with Allison to the station on the 1st of September? It's small but I want to do something to help,"** Elizabeth said firmly._

 ** _"Thank you Mrs. Taylor; I accept your offer."_**

 **oOoOo**

The drive down to King's Cross was quiet. Jonathan was focused on getting them to the station and Elizabeth was navigating for them. Harry and Allison were talking about the things she had been reading in her new books. When they reached the station and got their trunks loaded onto trolleys, they were lost. "Hagrid didn't tell us how to get on the platform, did he?" Harry laughed nervously. As much as he knew, he somehow glossed over that small fact. 'Of course I did!' Harry berated himself silently. 'Oh wait a second, am I dense? I can sense this!' He was about to enhance his senses with his magic when Allison spoke in response.

"That's alright, there have to be more families coming through this side won't there? We're not late and we still have time," Allison said, seemingly calm.

"Look, there's one there!" Jonathan pointed out a large family of redheads between platforms nine and ten. "Let's watch them and see how they do it." One by one, the children took their trolleys and walked or ran straight at the barrier. They were all surprised when rather than crashing and making a scene, the red headed family all disappeared. "Well then, let's try to do that, I'll go with Harry, and Elizabeth, you'll go with Allison okay?"

All agreeing, Jonathan and Harry lined up the trolley and pushed, running. Both had closed their eyes still expecting a crash but when nothing happened, they opened them and were met with the scene of a platform crowded with other families (It was a strange sight to behold, this many witches and wizards all in one place, Diagon Alley was even more strange due to the era that all the buildings were from) and a scarlet steam engine train that was called the Hogwarts Express. The two moved off so that Elizabeth and Allison would have space and they also appeared running with their eyes closed. "Wooh! That was weird," Elizabeth exclaimed. "Come on, let's get you two settled for the ride. Elizabeth and Jonathan lifted their trunks onto the train and they began walking back from the front as every compartment they came across was full with other students. A short while later, they'd found an empty compartment at the middle of the train and after stowing away their trunks, the group got off to say their goodbyes.

"We're going to miss you, Allison, be good alright? Make us proud!" They hugged their daughter and then turned to Harry. "Harry, once again we're both very sorry for what we did but I'm glad we've started putting that behind us and getting to know you more than what your family and the other neighbours have told us. Take care of yourself and Allison for us, please? Thank you, we'll see you in June."

Elizabeth and John gave the kids one final hug as the train sounded and the other families began to wave to their kids on the train. Allison went and got back on the train and Harry made to follow but as he did, a sight caught his eye. With most of the kids on the train, Harry was able to see this. There was a stone-faced well-dressed girl not saying a word to her parents as they bid their farewells and she got on the train. 'That was odd, she didn't seem at all sad to say goodbye but her parents certainly are, who is she and why is she like that? Maybe it's just a coping mechanism and I'm not seeing anything that is abnormal.' Back in their compartments, some students were waving goodbye to their families as the train began to pull away, Allison and Harry did the same until Elizabeth and John were out of sight.

* * *

"I hope we'll be able to make friends when we're there," Allison said, smiling hopefully. Harry agreed.

The train hadn't been going for very long when their compartment door opened up. "Hey, can I sit with you guys? Everywhere else is full," said a red haired boy.

"Uh, yea, sure," Harry answered.

"Thanks, it's crazy out there, my name's Ron Weasley, what's yours?" Ron said to them.

"I'm Allison Taylor," Allison said, giving Harry a knowing look, smirking.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter, nice to meet you Ron," Harry said, returning the look.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron said loudly and Harry responded with a nod.

"Wow! I didn't expect to meet you on the train, and do you really have the -, well," Ron said in a quieter voice, pointing at Harry's forehead.

Harry pulled his bangs back to show the ever-fading lightning scar, it was barely visible now and Harry had no idea why.

"It's just barely there but wow... so that's where You-Know-Who..."

"Yes, and all I remember is a green flash and laughter."

"I think I saw you with your family earlier on the platform, Ron, what are they like? Are they all wizards?" Allison spoke up to spare Harry from remembering any more. He didn't enjoy talking about that much, the parents he lost that day.

"Er, yes I think so. I think my mum might have a second cousin that is an accountant but we never talk about him." They talked about Ron's family for a while and he had five brothers and a sister, he was currently the 6th to enter Hogwarts and felt he had a lot to live up to with what his brothers had done with their time at Hogwarts. Nearly an hour later, the door compartment opened up and a woman with a trolley piled with snacks came into view. Harry bought a little of everything for the group and shared it with Ron and Allison, trading some for the corned beef sandwiches that his mom had made.

As the train went farther and farther away from London, the door opened up and this time a fretful looking, chubby boy came in and said, "Sorry, but have any of you seen a toad at all?"

"No, sorry, we've been in here the entire time," Allison said apologetically.

"I've lost him!"

"I'm sure he'll turn up," Harry said.

"Yes, well, if you see him," the boy said sadly and left.

"I can't say much as I have Scabbers but if I had a toad, I'd lose it as soon as I could," Ron said to them. The rat was sleeping on Ron's lap and the boy looked at it. "He could die and you wouldn't even see a difference, I tried turning him yellow yesterday so that he'd be more interesting, but the spell didn't work," Ron said.

"Could you show us?" Allison asked excitedly.

"I could but..." Ron pulled a wand out and it was very battered and chipped. Just as he raised it, the toadless boy had returned but with a bushy haired girl who was already in her Hogwarts robes.

"Have you seen a toad? Neville's lost his," she said in a bossy tone.

"We've already told him that we haven't seen a toad," Ron said but the girl had zeroed in on his raised wand and wasn't listening.

"Are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." Sitting down, the girl and the boy called Neville sat too, fidgeting in his seat. He was certainly worried about his toad but it seemed as though he was waiting for the girl to get back to the search.

"Alright," clearing his throat, Ron began the 'spell' and said, "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Nothing happened when he waved his wand and the rat stayed gray and asleep.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl in an almost condescending tone. "It isn't very good, is it?" I've practiced with a few spells and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all and it was such a surprise when i got my letter but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - learned all our books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?" The speed with which she had said all that as well as the fact that she had learned all of their books by heart had stunned Ron. Harry and Allison were unaffected but were a little annoyed with the tone that she was speaking to them with.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Allison Taylor," Allison answered.

"Harry Potter," Harry said.

"Are you really?" Hermione said, her focus now firmly on Harry. "I know all about you, of course, I got a few more books for just reading and you're in Modern Magical History, and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"I imagine they spoke more than just the night that Voldemort-," Harry was saying when Ron gasped loudly, interrupting him.

"You said his name! You don't say his name! I thought you of all people wouldn't dare!" Ron said, shocked.

"Oh, right, that, I'm not afraid to say his name but I forgot most people are, sorry," Harry apologized.

Hermione spoke up again, "What were you saying before, Harry?"

"As I was saying, what did they say about me and my family?" Harry directed towards Hermione. He already knew what they said, they were all guesses on what happened but nothing that was really true when it came to him. "The reason I say this is that I read those books as well and the writers were only really guessing on what happened and whatever happened between Vol- You-Know-Who and I, those stories and theories are far from the truth. I'm actually surprised by how off they were."

"Oh," Hermione was a little down, confusing the four of them. But she went back to her normal self and began to speak quickly again. "So do you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I guess Ravenclaw won't be bad either. Anyway, we should go and look for Neville's toad, you three should change; I expect we'll be there soon."

"I hope that I'm not in the same house as her," Ron said grumpily. He threw his wand back into his trunk and went on to explain that all of his family were in Gryffindor and wondered what they would say and do if he ended up elsewhere, especially Slytherin. Allison asked what the older brothers, the ones who had graduated, did, and Ron explained that Charlie studied dragons in Romania and Bill was working in Africa for Gringotts. "Speaking of Gringotts, did you hear? It's been all over the Prophet, but I guess you don't get that with the muggles, someone tried to rob a high security vault and it's huge because they disappeared, it must have been a powerful dark wizard to do that in Gringotts so everyone is scared in case it was Voldemort somehow."

Allison began to feel something akin to fear with Voldemort being mentioned but she hadn't really heard much about the dark wizard so she would wait until there was more to go on.

Ron then began talking about Quidditch and was about to explain the finer parts of the game when the door slid open once more to reveal the rude blond boy from Madam Malkin's shop, this time he was showing more interest in Harry and he was also accompanied by two big, mean, and dull looking boys on either side of the blond boy like bodyguards.

"Several people said they thought they saw Harry Potter back at the station and that he was in this compartment, is it you?"

"Yes I am, who are you?"

"My name's Draco Malfoy and this is Crabbe and Goyle."

Ron coughed which sounded suspiciously like a snicker. Draco looked at him and said in a demeaning voice, "Think my name's funny, do you? I don't need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." Turning back to Harry, Draco explained in high and mighty voice about how some families were better than others and that he wouldn't want to make friends with the wrong types. Harry was angry now, Allison and Ron were both annoyed. Draco made to shake hands but Harry knocked his aside.

"Your view on who is better than who, Mr. Draco Malfoy, seems slightly skewed. I will not consider being your friend until you figure out what I mean, now goodbye," Harry said, his displeasure quite obvious.

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," Draco said. "Unless you're politer, you'll go the same way as your parents and they didn't know what was good for them. You continue hanging around with riffraff like the Weasleys, Hagrid, and her," Draco said looking at Allison and continued with disdain in his voice, "it'll rub off on you."

Ron stood up but Harry just forced him back into his seat and Allison made sure that the red head stayed quiet. "I assure you that I'm being quite polite, I find this just a bit funny considering how rude you are being to me and my friends here; I bid you good day, Draco Malfoy."

"But we don't feel like leavi-," Draco began to say but Harry just pushed the trio out with just enough magic to make it seem like he'd done it with just force and closed the door.

"Nothing? That's surprising with how much he ran his mouth," Allison said after a few moment silence.

The two boys agreed. "I just saw a group of boys coming from here, what happened?" Hermione said, stepping into view.

"They were being very rude so Harry forced them out," Allison explained, "Do you know about them Ron?"

"Yeah, his family were some of the first people to come back from You-Know-Who's side after he had disappeared and they all claimed to have been bewitched but my dad doesn't believe it. Can we help you?" Ron finished, turning to Hermione.

"I came to tell you that we're nearly there so you'd all better put your robes on, you've got dirt on your nose by the way" Ron glared at Hermione as she left.

They all put their robes on and minutes later, the train screeched to a halt. On the platform, a familiar voice was heard. "First years! First years over here! Alright over there Harry? Allison?" Hagrid's hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me, any more first years? Mind your step!"

The group of first years followed Hagrid down to the edge of a great lake. On the other side, there was a vast castle on the mountainside. "So that's Hogwarts, seems bigger than I thought," Allison said in wonder.

"Of course," Harry replied, "It's an old castle and those were huge."

"Four to a boat only!" Hagrid said to them, pointing to a bunch of boats floating in the water by the shore. Harry, Ron, Allison, and another student got into one boat when Hagrid shouted, "Everyone in? Right, FORWARD!" The boats all moved at once, gliding across the smooth, surface of the lake. All were quiet, staring at the castle. Minutes later, they reached a sort of underground harbor where Hagrid found Neville's toad which was promptly returned to the tearful boy. The group of students were led to a huge oak door and Hagrid knocked three times with a gigantic fist.

The door opened and there stood a tall, black-haired witch in emerald green robes. "The first years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said. The witch took over from there and led them through the entrance hall into a small chamber off the hall.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," McGonagall said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you'll be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is an important ceremony because, while you are at Hogwarts, your house will be something like your family within the castle. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in the house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

Taking a breath, the professor continued, telling them the names of the four houses and then, "Each house has its own great history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn points while any rule breaking will lose points for your house. At the end of the year, the house with the most points are awarded the great honour of the house cup. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house you join. The sorting will happen in front of the rest of the school soon so prepare yourselves. I shall return when we're ready for you, please wait quietly." Professor McGonagall then left the chamber.

Harry and Allison waited in silence though Ron did say that another older brother, Fred, said there was a sort of painful test but that was possibly a joke. Everyone else was listening anxiously and no one was talking except Hermione who was muttering to herself about the spells she had learned. Harry started to tune it all out when twenty ghosts burst through the wall. Soon enough, though, Professor McGonagall returned and made them form a line and though Harry complied, he was almost staring off into space with his blank eyes. It wasn't until everyone burst into applause that Harry stopped and heard Ron say that they just had to try on a hat and that he would kill Fred for talking about having to wrestle a troll.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment and began to call out the names of students to try on the old hat on the stool at the front of the hall. No one really interested Harry until the stone-faced girl appeared and was just as emotionless as when she was on the train. 'Still? It's been hours! I get that some may be sad that they won't be with their parents but still!' Harry tried to scrutinize the stone-faced blonde girl but he got nothing. Her name was Daphne Greengrass and she ended up in "SLYTHERIN!"

Hermione went to Gryffindor and then other names that Harry didn't recognize were called. Neville went to Gryffindor, Malfoy went to Slytherin and then more names until... "Potter, Harry!" Whispers immediately broke out by all students as Harry made his way to the stool with the Sorting Hat. Looking up, all the teachers and Dumbledore were watching him, some, happy, some smiled sadly, though one particularly greasy haired wizard stared at Harry with seething hatred. Harry placed the hat upon his head and immediately all other sounds were drowned out.

"Well hello there, Harry Potter, you are hardworking and loyal to those you trust which is an excellent trait for Hufflepuff. You have an already well-learned mind which would be excellent for Ravenclaw and more than enough daring and nerve for Gryffindor. Where to place you? Hmm...you like secrecy, are ambitious, possess enormous potential and you have a hidden power" said the hat, who, knowing that it just triggered Harry's nerves, stated a single phrase that Harry could tell was true. "I am a powerful magical artifact enchanted by some of the most powerful witches and wizards of the age, Mr. Potter, everyone knows this."

"Very well, place me where you will, though I'm not particularly happy that I'll be immediately surrounded by potential enemies," Harry thought.

"I believe you'll be best suited for… SLYTHERIN!' The hat shouted the last word to the hall. "Be careful, Mr. Potter," the hat said to Harry in his mind as he took the hat off. The Great Hall was dead silent and Harry looked to where Ron was standing and noticed that he had a look of pure hatred in his eyes. Whispers from all over the hall then broke out, and Harry could have sworn that Ron mouthed the word 'traitor' at him.

"Strange, he seemed nice enough before, is it really just because I'm in Slytherin?" Harry wondered, feeling a bit gloomy at the loss of a potential friend. Turning around, he saw disappointment from most of the staff's eyes. Hagrid seemed tense, Dumbledore was staring at him intensely with a slight frown, the professor in a turban seemed tense but not because of his sorting, and the greasy, black haired man seemed absolutely shocked. However, Professor McGonagall, being the consummate professional, read the next name on the list but people were still quiet, even the Slytherin students. By the time Allison was called, the hall was back to its usual self, cheering for the students that were seated at their table.

Harry watched as Allison almost jogged to the hat in excitement. It barely touched her head when it shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" Harry gave her a thumbs up as she looked in his direction but she looked upset that they weren't in the same house, though her mood was lifted when everyone at the Ravenclaw table welcomed her. Ron was called up shortly after and he was placed in Gryffindor. Harry was now fully focused as the man at the head of the table stood up and welcomed everyone. It was Dumbledore and they ended up locking eyes. Immediately, Harry thought something tried to breach the magical shield he forgot he had put up around himself years ago, but he brushed it off as being tired from the train trip, then he noticed the greasy, black haired man also looking at him intensely, now that his shock had worn off.

As the food appeared on the tables and everyone began to eat, Harry heard bits of conversation about him from the other end of the hall and he just knew this would last for a while.

"Hey, Potter! How does it feel to be a traitor to your own family?" a girl asked beside him, loud enough for several people around to stop eating and listen in.

"I do not know my family but if they're anything like someone I have just recently met, I imagine they would be rather disappointed if not outraged." Harry sighed and raised his voice so that anyone who was listening close by, would hear him. "I am no traitor to anyone, I have simply been placed into one of the four houses of Hogwarts, the only house with a negative reputation due to the actions of a few select individuals, but I am none of those people." The chatter in the hall died down but remained a quiet buzz as those who heard told their friends what he had just said. Harry could still hear them talking about him and now all were wondering what he meant.

He could see the questions already. Is he like You-Know-Who? Is this just a cover-up? A lie? Will he be the next dark lord? Or is he really just a kind child who has the basic traits of a Slytherin? 'Well, maybe they'll think that, but only time will tell,' Harry thought.

"Right, well then, let me introduce myself," said another, it was a boy who Harry didn't see in the sorting. "I'm Peter, fifth year, our head of house is Professor Snape, the black haired professor sitting near Dumbledore." Peter pointed to the greasy black haired man at the head table who was currently talking with a small, older wizard about something. "You've got a problem? You can go to him, Dumbledore, one of us, or you can solve the problem yourself."

Harry continued looking at the head table and Professor Snape glanced in his direction, they locked eyes and Harry felt the same something trying to breach his shields, though he had no idea what it was. It wasn't able to make even a scratch after a minute and the professor gave up, resuming his conversation with the small old wizard. Harry's gaze lingered for just a moment more before he turned to his dinner. "I'll do that then," Harry said to the fifth year.

After the food was vanished off the golden and silver plates and Dumbledore bid them all a good night, the Slytherin prefects led the new students down into the dungeons. A few first years seemed a little shaken by this but said nothing. They were led to a stretch of a damp stone wall where the closer prefect said, "snake bite." A stone door that was concealed in the wall slid open which revealed a long, low, underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling. There were round, greenish lamps hanging on chains and a fire was crackling under an elaborately carved mantelpiece ahead of them. There were high-backed chairs around the fire and smaller chairs and tables strewn about the rest of the room.

"Listen up, because we'll only tell you this once," said the girl prefect in an annoyed tone, "All of you have separate rooms to sleep in due to a series of magically expanding spells. Those doors on the left lead to the boys rooms and the doors on the right lead to the girls rooms, understand? Good." She led the first year girls off to the right and the boy prefect led them to the left. Harry immediately noticed that there were 7 doors on one side with a number on each.

The door closest to the common room read 7 and the last read 1 so Harry assumed these doors were based on the year that the students were in. "This is the door you go through that will lead to your rooms, the doors on the right side lead to the bathrooms. Your rooms have your names already engraved upon the door so there should be no problem, understand?" The small group of first year boys just nodded, afraid to speak, and went through, the prefect went off to his own room.

Draco Malfoy had sat too far from Harry at dinner to make any sort of move or speak without shouting but as the other first years found their rooms through silver and green doors, Draco Malfoy made to bump Harry into the wall. Harry, however, having his nerves constantly empowered by his magic, sensed this and moved to the side, causing Draco to stumble as he missed. Surprised, he looked back at Harry who smirked. "Next time, Potter," he said with his own smirk in response, and went into his own room.

"Good luck with that," Harry said to the empty hall, and went inside.

The room was big enough for a four-poster bed, a desk with a mirror, and a closet and his trunk which was placed at the end of the bed. Harry changed into his pajamas, collapsed into the bed, and immediately fell asleep.

He began to dream and saw something he hadn't seen in years. A girl encased in ice where it seemed like she was smiling. The darkness once again cleared away but this time the girl didn't melt; it was Daphne Greengrass.

* * *

 _ **Thanks to haphne24 for being my editor/beta and helping me tremendously with this long overdue chapter.**_


	7. The First Step

_**Edit: I am so sorry to anyone who's been following this story for the lack of updates. I've had a lot of classwork and... regular work so I just haven't had the time and energy to really work on chapter 8 or any future chapter. Don't worry, I have made some progress but it'll be a while before the next chapter is out. I do plan on finishing this fanfic but it won't be any time soon. Thank you for your patience.**_

 _ **Author's Note: I apologize for the long wait and again for the lower quality of this chapter, honestly I was so burned out and I've just been super busy these last few months (and haven't been able to get into contact with my beta) but I thank you for reading this anyway.**_

 _ **Actually, another thing, I said Allison has a critical role in the story but the way I write the story may show otherwise in the future (for other characters too) but my point still stands.**_

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 _ **"flashback spoken dialogue"**_

 _ **'flashback thought'**_

* * *

 **The First Step**

Harry woke up feeling great, not because of the new bed or yesterday's feast, he just felt great,

stronger, and he couldn't explain it. Even with his dark sight, things seemed sharper, clearer, with all of his senses enhanced as well. "Wow…" Harry whispered in wonder. Somehow even this dungeon seemed more alive now. He knew he couldn't stay marvelling at himself forever and so Harry put his 'mask' back on, got dressed, and went to the Great Hall after a quick shower. He'd been waking up early for a few years and so few students were up and about with the exception of the higher year students, already studying in the common rooms, paying no mind to him.

Harry made his way out of the dungeon and up to the massive doors of the Great Hall. As he traversed the stone hall towards the Great Hall, he felt the eyes of other students from other houses all on him as they gossiped, no doubt that the topic of all of the current conversations were about him.

Due to his enhanced state, he was able to hear the closer students with complete clarity as though they were beside him.

"Look at him, walking around as though he owns the place, filthy Slytherin traitor…" He didn't hear anymore as he went into the hall. He kept to himself as he sat down at the end of the Slytherin table, the few students at the table all made sure to keep away from him, though he figured it was probably as he expected.

As students began trickling in, Harry immediately picked up that all the students cared to talk about was him. Whispers and general dislike for him or him being in Slytherin. As more students continued to pour into the Great Hall, he heard more and more about the theory of himself though in no positive light. The Slytherins all made sure to stay as far away from Harry as they could which, for them, made it quite cramped. Harry sighed and just picked away at his food, waiting for schedules to be handed out.

Ron finally walked in and he was flanked by two others, he assumed from his dorm room, who, like Draco, were like bodyguards, all three with hatred clear in their eyes, unwavering in their direction, before sitting down with their backs forcibly towards his direction. Harry sighed and thought, 'Based on the last 24 hours, the magical world isn't so different from the Muggle world, and it only seems to be getting worse.'

Hermione hadn't said much but she shot the occasional glance towards him so Harry wasn't sure what she was thinking quite yet.

Allison then entered and tried making her way to him but her dorm mates noticed her focus and pulled her away, keeping her seated at Ravenclaw table in spite of her distress.

Harry then noticed the professors seated at the head table and it was as though they apparated there, he had not noticed them somehow and even they were all looking towards him bar a few with varying degrees of curiosity and/or disdain as they quietly talked amongst themselves.

'Does no one have anything else to talk about? How could there possibly be so much to talk about that they have no time for themselves? What is wrong with these people?' Harry thought with curiosity and a hint of annoyance.

Eventually, Draco sat down beside him without saying a word, his bodyguards sitting on the side away from Harry.

"Morning there, Malfoy, bump into anything else last night?" Harry said with a smirk. Though the action didn't reach his eyes as usual, blank as they were.

"Looks like I have underestimated you Potter, not only did you repel me, but now you've become a traitor to your own parents and their friends and allies, how very Slytherin of you. Maybe I was wrong about you, Potter."

"Maybe, maybe not, but you'll have to figure that out on your own. Don't forget about what happened on the train because how this proceeds will depend on where you stand."

"Stand? I'm sitting, Potter," Draco said with light sarcasm, but he gave a slight nod and made to finish his breakfast after getting up and sitting farther down the table to talk with other students that Harry supposed were from families as influential and wealthy as Malfoy.

Just moments later something mentally akin to a rock struck Harry's awareness but it wasn't from any familiar source. He began to extend his senses but it hit him again. It hit one more time and then there was silence. He continued to eat as though nothing was happening but he was spaced out, facing the direction of Daphne who just arrived at the table with a girl who was talking animatedly, though Daphne remained in her stony silence. People at the Slytherin table noticed him supposedly staring at Daphne but after seeing his particularly blank expression, just assumed he was spacing out. The talking, brown haired girl, noticed the table's attention and also looked towards Harry. She gave him a scrutinizing look and her eyes widened slightly in surprise but turned away quickly and resumed talking to Daphne as though she saw nothing. As Harry continued to 'space out' at Daphne, he noticed that she noticed her friend's action and gave him a quick glance that became surprised as well in the only way that he knew people with a look like him could give.

He wasn't just spacing out, he felt like he could see the various negative emotions in her face and could almost guess why she was feeling what she did and that would explain her expression. That was their surprise, Harry was guessing, but even then he wasn't sure. Maybe he could talk to her friend about it later, but first he'd need to know her name, he didn't really pay attention during the sorting so he had no idea. He was curious, this new found energy that he discovered that morning, it gave him the ability to look more closely at her face when just the previous day, he was unable to discern any information when scrutinizing her.

He decided to turn his attention back to his breakfast but before he did, there was one more jolt towards his mental state before there was silence again and he continued eating. Eventually, the professors at the head table made their way around to hand out time tables and Harry waited patiently as Snape came around. He didn't expect the professor to pause when handing out his schedule but it was only a quick moment. Harry tried looking at his face but found he could only see blankness. Not something he could find on himself or Daphne and so this peaked his interest. 'Who are you?' Harry thought.

 **oOoOo**

Classes flew by for Harry because he'd already known the material and so when finishing any assigned tasks by the professors, he was always excused after being given the homework for the day and set about to explore the castle. Many thought this was unfair and was using some hidden knowledge to blackmail the teachers into letting him free. Harry, however, never told any who asked how he was doing it and even though he always left early, he always went straight to the library to study whatever he could about the body and any magical ways to restore broken parts and spent the rest of the time exploring whatever he could of the castle. He'd quickly read through those books and was very disappointed when he could only find mentions to the more complex parts of the body such as the eyes. Even the books with more detailed information gave no indication that there was any real cure for blindness or damaged eyesight. 'Am I destined to be blind for the rest of my life?' Harry cursed inwardly at his demise. It was fine if he did but he didn't like relying on his magic to see, sometimes he forgot to use it when waking up tired and bumped into random things, wondering whether he'd truly lost his sight now before remembering.

Harry was also unable to meet up with Allison, Ron, or Hermione that entire first week. Ron because of his stubborn and unknown hatred for all things Slytherin. Allison because she was always pulled away by her Ravenclaw friends whenever she tried to sneak away or get his attention and Hermione was just too into her books and studying to really notice. Neville was terrified that Harry would attack him but he wasn't sure why.

Harry felt so very alone, he was fine with it but after he thought he started to make friends and especially since he'd opened up to Allison, he thought maybe things would start to get better for him in terms of his social life. 'Maybe I should've asked to go to Gryffindor, then I wouldn't be constantly on my toes whenever I go anywhere in this blasted castle.' Harry had been hoping that Hogwarts would be a home he could feel alive in for the next seven years but instead it was beginning to feel like a prison and it hadn't even been a month yet. He hoped something would change soon, he could not go for the next seven years living in constant negativity like he did back at the Dursley's house.

That weekend, he was confronted by the girl who he found out was called Tracy Davis.

"Hey, Potter!" a voice called out. He was alone in a corridor so he was surprised when she came running around the corner, calling his name.

"Yes, Ms. Davis?" he replied, one eye raised in curiosity.

"I feel like you should know, Daphne isn't looking to date anyone, you shouldn't even bother, it isn't worth your time," she explained. Harry gaped at her in shock before he began laughing, dropping his mask entirely which caused Tracy Davis to pause. "What?!"

"Is that what you thought I was thinking? Oh I have to thank you, I've been having a bad week... HAHAHAHA!" Harry said, seeing Tracy frown, he calmed himself and explained, "I am more curious as to why she looks like I do, no child looks like we do without some serious issue pressing on us or some sort of trauma, I can see abandonment, betrayal, and resigned hatr-." Harry was startled when Tracy Davis looked at him in horror and dashed off. "What? Did I say something wrong?" Harry asked to nobody. After his surprise wore off, he resumed his mask and thought, 'She came to me to tell me not to look for Daphne's affections because she misinterpreted my curiosity but when I explained she ran off in horror? Now I'm more curious...' Harry then continued on exploring the lower levels of the castle with his senses targeting anything that was significantly more magical than the rest of the things at Hogwarts. 'Maybe I'll figure it out some day, it's not like it's an urgent matter.'

 **oOoOo**

On Monday there was a notice for first year students posted up on the Slytherin wall. Flying lessons on Thursday for both Gryffindors and Slytherins. Harry looked at the notice with mild interest, at his current skill in wielding his magical energy, if he focused hard enough he could float off the ground, he didn't understand why so many people liked flying and Quidditch so much.

 **oOoOo**

 **2015**

"But dad, you like flying!" His kids all exclaimed in confusion.

"I know, back then, I didn't understand the thrill of the wind in my hair or the feel of a broom underneath me," Harry explained, "It's one of my favourite things to do aside from, well, I'll explain it later in the story," Harry smirked. Harry and Daphne's kids all groaned in disappointment while the two parents just grinned at each other, laughing quietly.

 **oOoOo**

 **12th of September, 1991 (Thursday)**

Harry stood alone by himself, separated from the rest of the group by their reluctance to stand with him and he sighed again. Ron was constantly glaring at him or ignoring him, most ignored him, Hermione was just spouting off all she knew about flying from a book to anyone who was listening which was Neville and a few others who'd never gone flying before. The old looking brooms were in a neat line and he supposed every student there was supposed to stand by any one of the brooms and chose to stand by the one closest to the doors. Their professor for the lesson, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. She barked out, "What are you waiting for? Stand by a broomstick! Hurry up now!"

"Stick out your wand hand right over your broom," she explained, "and say 'UP!'"

They all did so and Harry's broom jumped right into his hand. The rest of the group had varying degrees of success. Draco and several other Slytherins had broomsticks in their hands. Draco's posse just kept saying up but had no results, same for Hermione and Neville and most of the Gryffindors but Ron and his bodyguards had their broomsticks in their hands. Afterwards, she explained how to mount it without sliding off the end and told Draco that he'd been mounting it wrong for years. She then said they'd all go a few feet off the ground after her whistle, stay in the air for a few seconds, then float back down to the ground.

"One... two..." she began to say but Neville, nervous as always and afraid of being left behind, kicked off and flew up and continued to fly up. "Come back down, boy!" Madam Hooch had shouted but the nervous flying boy, white as a sheet, slipped sideways and fell, landing with a loud thud and a nasty sounding crack. She examined the prone boy with a face as white as his and said aloud, "Broken wrist." She led Neville to the hospital wing after telling them that no one was allowed to fly and if anyone was seen on their brooms, she'd get them out of Hogwarts as fast as possible.

Harry sighed and waited, he sat down and focused on clearing his mind, of the external noise by the others and his own internal confusion and eventually there was nothing. In his eternal silence, his senses extended and noticed the rememberall that Neville had been talking about at breakfast but Malfoy had also noticed and went over to inspect it.

Malfoy noticed something shiny in the grass and went over to pick it up. "Hey, it's that stupid thing that Longbottom's gran sent him!"

Ron finally spoke up in defense for Neville, "Give it here, Malfoy."

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to find, how about up in a tree?" Malfoy exclaimed.

"Give it here!" Ron yelled, but Malfoy had already mounted the broom he had and flew off. Ron was about to get onto his broom even though he wasn't so sure of his flying ability but then everyone else exclaimed when Harry had mounted his broom and zipped passed them all. Malfoy was shocked when Harry had flown passed him and snatched the rememberall out of his hand and landed safely on the ground.

Harry was shocked by his own actions. 'Why did I do that...?' The rest of them were standing in stunned silence until Madam Hooch had returned. Harry passed by Hermione, knowing she was one of the few students in their year in Gryffindor that were nice to Neville, and gave her the rememberall that he now held. She nodded in shock but still said nothing.

"Why do you all look like that?" She asked, "Did someone else get hurt?" They all shook their heads. "Well then what happened?" They all just pointed at Harry and Harry turned to look at her and explained.

"Draco Malfoy had taken Neville Longbottom's rememberall and flew to leave it up in a tree so I flew up to him and took it."

She turned to the silent group and asked, "What's so shocking about that?" and turning around to Harry, she said, "and you, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter, are in big trouble."

"Professor?" Hermione said loud enough to catch her attention.

"Yes? Ms. Granger," Madam Hooch said in frustration that two of her students already betrayed her instructions.

"We could barely see H-Harry when he flew to take the rememberall, he had also just easily snatched it out of Malfoy's hands. This all happened in the blink of an eye really..." she explained. She was afraid of saying anything, people were already ignoring her because of how she acted in classes, a know-it-all with a holier than thou attitude except for when she was helping Neville because she felt a sort of kinship with him.

"Right, well, we'll still have to see Professor Snape about your actions, Mr. Malfoy, you'll stay here, Mr. Potter, let's go," Madam Hooch decided after a minute of silence as she processed that information.

A few minutes later, Madam Hooch had stopped by the dungeon where Snape held his potion's class and knocked.

"Yes? I'm busy you know." he said in mild irritation. He closed the door behind him and his eyes zeroed in on Harry and then his attention returned to Madam Hooch.

"One of your students, Mr. Malfoy, had taken an object from another student and flew up to put it elsewhere in the Forbidden Forest but before he could do so, as another student explained, Mr. Potter here had flew up and taken said object back in the blink of an eye. Would you at all object to putting Mr. Potter on the Quidditch team?" Madam Hooch explained.

Snape inspected Harry for a minute, causing some discomfort to all parties present. Sighing, the man said, "No I would not object, but my team still has the student who was seeker for the team last year, what am I supposed to do about that?"

"Hold trials, isn't that how all teams work, Severus?" Madam Hooch's eyes narrowed.

"Very well, there's trials being held on the weekend, I'll get Mr. Potter a broom as I assume he does not have one of his own? We still have to talk to Dumbledore about this as well," Severus said.

"Of course, now off you run, Mr. Potter," Madam Hooch said and she turned to discuss things with the professor.

'And now I may be on the Quidditch team... that's interesting,' Harry thought as he headed to the Slytherin common room.

 _ **'Interesting indeed.'**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well there it is. I tried getting into contact with my beta but they never responded so I wrote this without help or any edits, if there's anything you notice, please tell me and I'll correct it as soon as I can, thank you for reading and reviewing, I'll see you all for chapter eight.**_


	8. Catalyst

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, here's the next chapter in Pain of the Mind, Release of the Soul. I'm significantly happier with this chapter than the previous one. I'll try to get another chapter out in the next couple of weeks provided nothing sudden changes my current schedule.**

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 ** _"flashback spoken dialogue"_**

 ** _'flashback thought'_**

The only thing left to do is read this chapter, enjoy.

* * *

 **Catalyst**

Several days after his impromptu meeting with Tracy Davis, during breakfast, Harry got 3 separate letters saying the same thing that he'd been seeing since that day.

"Leave Ms. Greengrass alone or action shall be taken to the Ministry of Magic and you'll face trial for harassment of a member of a noble house."

Maybe he really should but curiosity was really killing the cat within him. What, exactly, was the reason behind her resigned anger? Her constant stony expression was easy to discern but he wasn't sure of the reason and he wanted to know. Harry wasn't sure why he wanted to know either but something was compelling him to do so. He shook his head.

The increasing chatter in the hall also forced Harry to stash away the letters to address the other issue at hand. The long, thinly wrapped package that had been held above the Slytherin table by a flock of eagle owls. 'This must be a broom for my seeker trial, maybe I'll get to keep it if I'm put on the team.' He held his hands up and the owls released their talons, dropping the package into them.

"Open it up, Potter, let's see what poor wretch has deigned unsightly enough to give to you!" some second year Slytherins jeered. Ignoring them as always, Harry read the attached note.

"Open it up, here or in private, it doesn't matter. You'll be allowed to keep this so long as you make the team and your performance is exemplary. Seeker trials are on Saturday - Professor S. Snape." Harry didn't care, he had dealt with his infamous status of the Boy-Who-Lived as a Slytherin in more ways than one for several weeks now, he could only imagine that life at the castle would continue to be like this until he left. Ripping it off in a single motion, the paper revealed a broomstick, the latest hot topic model of the Nimbus series, the Nimbus 2000.

The Great Hall's loud chatter slowly fell to a hush as everyone who was watching began to understand what Harry had just received. Several faces throughout the hall began to redden in anger, particularly from the students. 'I don't have much experience but there seems to be more bias from them than in the non-magical world, and that's saying something,' Harry thought.

"Why does Potter have a broom?! It's against the rules for first years!" Ron shouted from across the hall. "He should've been expelled! That's what Madam Hooch said!"

Many of the students in the Hall agreed and cried for justice but Madam Hooch stood up and with a bang from the end of her wand, silenced the crowd.

"Under normal circumstances, yes, I would've requested for Mr. Potter's immediate expulsion, however he did not harm himself nor others and even showed skill, according to all in that flying lesson, that seems unrivaled by all I've ever taught here at Hogwarts. Mr. Potter, from what I understand from my fellow colleagues, is at the top of his class in every course taught. I think it would be a shame to turn away one of the brightest wizards just because of an incident like that. If more problems had occurred as a result of the flying lesson incident, things may have been different but alas here we are. If you wish to discuss this more I suggest taking it up with your head of house."

A lot of the students resigned to grumbling and dirty looks but after Madam Hooch's words, no one felt like trying to argue the fact. Though Ron and the majority of the Gryffindor table looked like they wanted to argue more.

Harry decided to just leave and so he got up to go put his new Nimbus away in his dorm, leaving amidst the whispering students and the continuously disapproving glares of the more expressive professors and students. Once he left the Great Hall, he turned in the direction of the dungeons and began walking at a brisk pace. Though he had no real enemies yet, in a world where power was more easily accessible, one could never be too careful. Maybe Harry was paranoid but he took it upon himself to put a few small spells here and there as well as a few simple runes that he'd learned in his prior studies and at the library that made it difficult for any unpracticed witch or wizard to access. He would upgrade the spells and runes used in time but there was no need at the moment.

Harry was just about to reach the door to the Slytherin common room when he could've sworn he felt someone watching him but not from any particular direction. "Hello?" He called out. He took control of the magic he was releasing and condensed the energy within a few meters around him. He found nothing. Harry continued condensing the energy he was using as a radar until it was well up to 50 feet but still the only thing he detected were a few insects and rats hiding in the crevices of the castle. He let go of the energy and it dispersed away like a light breeze of air but he could still feel his connection to the magic that was his. There was also something else but it was so faint it was barely noticeable even when he focused. He would figure it out later but it was time for classes.

* * *

 **Seeker Trials that evening.**

"Alright, listen up! There's too many of you as usual so this is how we'll be doing this: You all will be playing a free-for-all style match in which all of you will attempt to catch the single snitch we'll be releasing within an hour. If you fail, the person who was closest in their attempt to catching the snitch will be made seeker and the rest of the top 3 applicants will practice as reserve members in case anyone is ever incapacitated," Marcus Flint, captain of Slytherin team said to Harry and the 8 others standing beside him. "Since we still have our seeker from last year, Terence Higgs, he'll be staying behind for a minute while you'll be looking for the snitch, you're all new so it's not likely that it'll matter. Also, from what I've heard of you and how you got here in spite of you being in first year, Potter, you'll also be staying behind for two minutes. We don't make things fair for other teams, so I'll expect rough play from all of you to get you used to the practice, understand? If it gets too out of hand, I'll step in" As he finished this, he snickered at Harry and nodded at Higgs who nodded back.

The 9 seeker applicants including Harry nodded, albeit not confidently. Harry and Higgs stood off to the side while the 7 others mounted their brooms and waited for Marcus to give the signal. There was a small crowd of Slytherin students throughout the stadium. Harry could tell that the audience wasn't helping with the confidence of the younger applicants that were second years.

On his mark, Marcus release the snitch and counted silently. Meanwhile, Harry noticed Higgs attempt to cast some magic on his broom so Harry silently cast the spell 'Sorbui' and as Higgs let off his spell, it didn't make much effect but Harry felt the spell that Higgs cast turn into raw magical energy and mix with his own, increasing his continually growing energy. Higgs seemed to not notice anything wrong with his spell and turned to watch the 7 others attempt to look for the snitch.

Marcus blew his whistle and Higgs kicked off. Higgs wasn't spending much energy by zooming around the quidditch pitch, but rather looking around in a semi-random pattern, for any tell-tale sign of the golden ball. Harry wouldn't cheat for this, though it'd be so easy to. He wouldn't let his power get to his head, or at least he thought he wouldn't.

Marcus blew his whistle again and Harry kicked off and immediately noticed a glint of something shiny near the opposite end of the pitch and so he decided to head in that direction while still looking as if he noticed nothing. However about halfway to his destination, the glint disappeared and he looked down and noticed that Marcus Flint was grinning almost sinisterly. Harry flew up higher above everybody else and cleared his mind. Harry maintained constant watch in case anyone broke off to dive or otherwise moved differently from their current pattern. For several minutes, he watched as three of the applicants separately from their normal path in some direction but only for a few seconds because of something they had noticed and then slowed their speed, but continuing in the same direction while others made to follow just in case. Harry had yet to see the snitch with any of these break offs. At one point, Higgs noticed the snitch and Harry made to follow, diving down from his position and swerved around two of the others only to get cut off by a third and Higgs nearly crashed into the stadium because he wasn't fully paying attention as he was starting to get confused and was looking at Harry with a worried expression on his face. After forty minutes passed with several chases and cut offs almost resulting in being hit, Harry grew a little impatient and also broke off from his usual position, scanning his eyes every which way. Higgs noticed what Harry was doing and made to follow him loosely.

Something in the air started to feel different to Harry and so he turned around to look. At the other end of the pitch, Harry noticed the snitch fluttering above the shoulder of one of the other applicants but hadn't yet noticed the ball. Harry turned to the side and sped off, startling two of the others who were following him, Higgs watched Harry swerve away from the side of the stadium at the last second and picked up incredible speed. Noticing where Harry was looking, Higgs positioned himself like an arrow and shot forward, the others attempted to follow but were not nearly fast enough. Harry and Higgs ended up neck and neck while the one with the snitch floating around him panicked and dived out of the way of their approach. Higgs was nearly ahead of him so Harry decided to do something very very audacious. He positioned himself so while Higgs got ahead of him, he was now in a position to execute the maneuver that could lead to his death: Dive off his broom and catch the snitch in mid-air.

He shouted at Higgs who had been distracted by Harry's Nimbus not being affected by his spell and so he jumped enough for Harry to get a single second to jump and jump he did. Everyone on the pitch shouted in surprise at this. Harry caught the snitch at the highest point of his jump but then he began to fall. A few of the other applicants tried to reach him to save him, including the one who dived earlier, but they didn't react in time. The world around him flipped and tumbled about and the speed of his fall kept increasing and he couldn't force out a sound.

Harry fearing the worst remembered the single flying lesson from Madam Hooch's class that all the first years attended. He shouted, "UP!" while thrusting his hand out. A light wave of magic echoed out from Harry and his falling Nimbus straightened out and zoomed passed all the other seeker applicants and into his hand. At just a few meters above the ground, Harry managed to right himself up and narrowly avoided smashing into the ground and dying a premature death. Harry opened his hand to reveal the snitch safely within his hand. Marcus Flint sighed and shook his head before flying over to Harry and the others all descended around him.

"That was insane Potter!"  
"Where did you learn to do that?!"

"That was incredible!"

Praises and questions from the others excluding Higgs and Flint hit Harry like a river from the seven other seeker applicants, looking not at all dejected for having lost the snitch to Harry.

Harry said nothing but nodded towards them all, Flint then decided to break himself out of his shock and shouted at them to be quiet. "Alright, looks like Potter caught the snitch and as insane as it was, don't do that again Potter, I can't have my team killing themselves on my watch, alright? You're the new seeker, I'll let you know what our schedule is like. Everyone else excluding Higgs, we still have yet to find a third back-up because you were all terrible, not the worst but not good either, try again, I'll be throwing the quaffle at you and you'll have to try to catch it among yourselves. Higgs, Potter, go clean up and leave."

Higgs and Harry walked to the locker room in silence. They changed in silence and as they headed up back to the castle, Higgs turned to Harry and sighed. "That was insane, Potter, are you sure you're not a Gryffindor?"

"Not even close to one," Harry replied. Higgs nodded and they walked along in silence. "But traits from all houses are present in all of us, some are just stronger than others."

* * *

The days that followed the Slytherin seeker trials were rather quiet. Aside from Professor Snape and the other Slytherin students, no one else in the castle, not even the portraits or ghosts knew of what transpired. All anyone knew was that people were starting to talk to Harry. Now people mostly stopped cursing his placement in Slytherin and theorized about the events of the trials, trying to figure out what happened but every Slytherin kept their mouth shut and Snape refused to give anything away to the other teachers, subtly smirking at Minerva McGonagall whenever quidditch was brought up.

The next Monday after the trials, Harry felt a twinge of pain from his chest but it didn't really feel like it came from his heart but rather something deeper. He wasn't sure why he felt any pain, he was in great shape after all. Quidditch practice and his exercises early in the morning allowed for that. The moment passed though, so Harry thought nothing of it again until it returned later on similar to an itch. Perhaps it was the loneliness he was feeling. He'd barely managed to say more than a hello to Allison over the last few weeks and only barely talked to Hermione once or twice ever since the flying lesson incident.

Speaking of which, there was a slight problem with Hermione that he wished to address, there was a story circulating about how she was acting in her classes. Though she was incredibly intelligent and hard working and kind in almost every other aspect, she was condescending to a fault in classes whenever a new concept was introduced. At least, that was what he was able to surmise based on the few whispers he had heard, though he never really noticed during their potions class due to how quickly he had managed to finish everything and left.

Harry began to analyze how the other Gryffindors acted around Hermione. Though most tended to be cordial enough while they were forced to be close to her, they also kept their distance whenever they could and Harry saw the loneliness evident on her face when she thought no one was looking.

Allison had the opposite issue. No one in Ravenclaw at her year seemed to want to leave her alone. 'They act so much like Hufflepuffs, it's almost adorable, but I want to talk to her,' Harry thought. Harry felt like he was going to be able to solve two problems, especially when during lunch, Allison blew up.

"Can you all leave me alone?! You're smothering me, I have no space to myself! You're all acting like I'm about to be mauled the moment I go around a corner! Why are you like this?!" She screamed. With this noise, the attention of the hall was completely on her.

Harry turned around to look at what was going on as well.

"But we're just protecting you! We know you have a connection with him!" A fellow first year Ravenclaw said back. Though there was no name specified, the tone as well as the jerking of her head in his general direction made it quite clear who this girl was referencing. Harry. "Who knows what he'll do to manipulate you to the dark side? Think about it! How did he get onto the Slytherin team as a first year?! Obviously dark magic! Why else is he in Slytherin?!"

Harry would've made to defend himself but Allison beat him to it.

"I've said again and again, you just won't listen to me! Harry is a nice guy! You haven't lived with him nor bothered to get to know him! You don't know what he's like, so why judge? So what if he's in Slytherin?! That doesn't mean he's evil or a traitor! If you actually believe that, you're delusional and need to get a grip, now leave me alone!" Allison picked up her bag and moved to sit by Harry. The upper year Ravenclaws clapped and the mood among the Slytherins brightened considerably. The rest of the hall were shocked that anyone would defend Harry, after all, he hadn't done anything to defend himself either.

"Thanks for that, I've been wanting to talk to you for ages but I could never find a good time with your posse around," Harry whispered to Allison.

"I kind of wish you did, maybe they would be too scared to be around me after that," Allison whispered back. She also remembered the silence and the attention was still on them. "Oh hello, I'm Allison Taylor, nice to meet you!"

This galvanized the rest of the Great Hall into motion again. McGonagall spoke up. "Ms. Taylor, that's the Slytherin table, please move back to the Ravenclaw table or you'll face punishment."

This is when Harry finally spoke up to the Hall. "Are you sure about that professor? When has that been a rule? I may be a lowly Slytherin, traitor to my parents, or so you all believe, but even I believe in fairness. Where in the book does it say it's not allowed? Or will you punish a student just for wanting to sit with a friend or meet new people?"

Minerva almost wanted to object but she sat down, somewhat fuming.

"The boy's right, Minerva, there is no such rule," Dumbledore spoke calmly, his electric blue eyes twinkling. "Please, calm yourself."

Harry looked over at Ron and saw him red and ready to burst, but Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas tried to calm him down. They were successful albeit barely and Ron resumed pigging out on the feast.

Though the occupants of the Great Hall reigned in their shock, it still definitely consumed the tables. Gryffindors whispering, Hufflepuffs whispering, Ravenclaws pondering to themselves, and Slytherins reacted differently altogether.

"Why is a mudblood here? Go back to your dirt hole where you came from, filth."

"And why is she a mudblood? Because she came from a Muggle family? What's wrong with that? She's not "pure" enough for you purebloods? I'm half muggle-born half-pure blood also known as a half blood yet you all have accepted me after the Slytherin trials so what's different? Is it because I proved myself? That doesn't really make sense to me. Also no one in this school really acts like they have the traits of their house, so I don't know why you think you're better than everyone else just because of who you were born from and what house you're in. As I said to Malfoy at the start of the term, 'How this proceeds will depend on where you stand.' That is all I'll say, now leave us alone or I will actually break some rules." Harry said the final sentence to any Slytherin who thought of trying to force the issue, showing his dark red Faerie wand, radiating power, as a warning. That effectively shut up the more vocal Slytherins who were paying attention the entire time while the older students just shrugged and continued to eat in silence. Some of the Slytherin students seemed like they were more relaxed than before, happier, even.

"Well, that was something, thanks Harry," Allison uttered in a hushed tone.

"You did say you wanted them scared," Harry chuckled softly in reply.

"Hopefully we'll get more time together now, I did want to make new friends, speaking of which, who's that girl over there? Isn't she the friend of the one you were staring at?" Allison nudged towards the brown-haired Tracy Davis, she didn't seem at all mad that I was Muggle-born.

"That girl's name is Tracy Davis, she warned me to stay away from the girl she's talking to right now, though she said it in a horrified way, very dramatically and now I want to know even more."

"Hummm," Allison whispered.

"What is it?"

"Oh nothing, I'm sure you'll find out sooner or later," Allison gave a small smile.

"Come on, tell me!" Harry whispered back, curious.

"Nope, this is something for you to figure out on your own, you'll never get anywhere otherwise. It builds character, at least that's what mom said once," Allison whispered back, adamantly denying Harry's request.

"I have seven years including this one, provided nothing goes wrong, I'll have plenty of time to figure things out," Harry sighed back dramatically.

"I'm sure you will," Allison smiled sweetly. "We all will."

* * *

Those few minutes in the Great Hall changed a thing or two for Harry. For one thing, people didn't block him off from going a certain way in the castle, the other thing being that if he were to walk by, people wouldn't look and talk about him in a dark manner. Instead it was more of curious whispers, still wary and dark but no longer pure venom in their eyes, though in the books of Ron and a surprisingly big group of other Gryffindor students, being a Slytherin meant that they were also evil. 'Looks like some people are less open to change or new ideas than others,' Harry thought wonderingly. 'What would it take to open their minds?'

He was also able to approach Allison without a problem now and if there was, she would just glare at them and they would step aside. Harry also wanted to see what was the deal with Hermione's alienation within Gryffindor but he had yet to find the right time to approach her and when he did, he was rebuffed by the Gryffindor students which confused him, though they still continued to ignore her they were now guarding her?. He wouldn't brush them aside forcefully because that could lead to some unintended consequences that he didn't want to deal with. About the fortieth time, or several weeks later that Harry did this, Ron finally stepped up.

"What's your deal, Potter?" Ron spat angrily, grabbing Harry by the neck of his robes and pushing him against the corridor wall, "Why are you trying to mess with our house? Trying to talk to Hermione these last few weeks so that you can corrupt her with your dark magic so that it would in turn corrupt us?" The other Gryffindor students cheered Ron on.

Harry was so flabbergasted by this that his mask nearly broke from the stupidity of the words Ron shouted at him. "No, actually, I want to talk to Hermione for another reason and if you and all your friends really believe this, Mr. Weasley, then I'd really like you to think about the possibility of that happening with a first year student, no matter what house they're in. I suppose what Ms. Taylor said in the Great Hall weeks ago didn't change your mind about me at all." The Gryffindors started to interject.

"She's obviously in on it, corrupted by your magic!"

"Are you calling us stupid? You Slytherin git!"

"It is possible! Dumbledore himself was a genius at our age!"

"Bollocks! I know what you can do it because I saw it during flying lessons. Everyone knows. And even though we weren't there, how else did you get onto the Slytherin Quidditch team? You're never talking to Hermione if it's the last thing that I do!" Ron shouted, enraged.

"Are you suggesting we duel each other?" Harry asked quietly. "You realize that without proper permission from the teaching staff, that it's against the rules to duel in Hogwarts right?" Looking both ways, Harry saw no one else but Gryffindor students present and himself.

"Who cares about the rules? This is just to make sure you'll never talk to Hermione again, and if you try, I'll be there! Creepy quiet gits such as yourself should not be allowed to walk among us but rather rolling around in the dirt like pigs!"

"Very well, you set the terms," Harry acquiesced to Ron but thought, 'I won't show up, why would I? To cause more problems? But at the same time, if I don't then they will use this to their advantage for as long as we remain here. Hm..'

"An hour and a half after curfew, third floor corridor, Dumbledore said it was out of bounds so we'll be alone. No contact, wands only. My second will be Dean, who's yours?" Ron smirked smugly. The other Gryffindors chuckled knowingly at Harry.

"You and I both know I don't have a 'second' so let's drop the act. I agree to Mr. Thomas as your second, I'll see you both tonight and when we're done, I'll be talking to Hermione, understand?"

"That won't be happening," Ron said confidently, though there was a tone of uncertainty in his voice that he quickly covered up with turning and walking away, laughing with the group at the certain demise that was sure to befall Harry.

* * *

 **11:30 p.m. 21st of October, 1991**

Harry waited for several minutes before he slipped out of his room and away from the Slytherin common room. He gathered some of the magical energy he had been releasing still and made it surround him like a radar. In truth, he was somewhat excited for this encounter. He had read about magical duels before, of course, the most well known was between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945. The magical power and intensity of that duel was legendary. The skill of the darkest wizard of the current era of the time and Dumbledore, one of the most renowned wizards in the world at the time were unmatched by most others in the world, rivalling each others abilities. Harry almost wished to experience that kind of duel personally though he knew he wouldn't get that with Ron nor anyone else that currently lived in the castle and if it did, he was scared it would harm innocent students such as Allison and Hermione.

Harry worked his way quickly through the dungeon, passed the basement, and up the ever-changing magical stairs of Hogwarts, though he did trip on one and nearly fell down a set. Around ten minutes later, Harry arrived at the third floor corridor. He didn't see Ron yet but he swore he heard a chuckle from the walls. It didn't sound human so Harry just assumed it was probably a ghost or maybe it was even Peeves, the infamous poltergeist. Harry had not felt the presence of anyone else on his path towards the corridor and so felt safe enough to move forward.

"Ah, there you are, I was beginning to think you were too scared to show up, Potter," Ron spat. "Are you ready?" Harry did see Ron and Dean at the end of the corridor but he also felt the presence of two more people hiding nearby.

'Hermione and Neville? Why are they here? Strange,' Harry noted their presence and let his energy disperse. He didn't respond to Ron but held out his Faerie wand, showing that he was indeed ready.

"Alright!" Ron shouted. At the noise, Hermione and Neville squeaked and even Dean looked worried. He did agree with Ron about Slytherins but he still didn't want to get into trouble for it, they could solve the Slytherin problem any other day after Hogwarts or during off-hours.

Rage burned deep within Ron and it grew. It grew hot and Ron swung his wand in a wild pattern. Shocking to all that were present excluding Harry, a wave of fire rushed towards Harry.

Casually twirling his wand in his hands, Harry waved the wand in the pattern of the water charm. "Aqua Eructo…" A jet of water shot forth from the tip of the wand and collided with the fire, the two elements putting each other out, creating a cloud of steam.

"Ron that was amazing! How did you do that?" Dean exclaimed.

"I-I don't know, I just felt so angry and let it out…" Ron looked at his wand, fascinated. Remembering where he was, Ron turned his wand on Harry again, more confident than ever before. "You see that?! You can't stop me now!" He slashed his wand down ferociously, wishing that Harry would turn to dust in the next seconds.

But nothing came out of the wand but a small shower of excited sparks. Again Ron slashed the wand but this time even less sparks. He then waved his wand wildly in an attempt to bring about the same fire from before, nearly hitting Dean, who ducked out of the way, in the face.

"As I thought, you're too arrogant. Did you think you could do wordless magic twice in a row? Something like that isn't generally taught until the higher years and if a child such as you or I could do it, then they are either very skilled or it's accidental magic brought upon by emotions." Harry spoke sharply, almost annoyed. If Ron didn't learn restraint, he could cause serious harm to innocent bystanders. "If you try that again, I'll make sure you regret it, Mr. Weasley," Harry warned, his Faerie wand pointed and glowing at the tip.

"How dare you try to tell m-!" Ron began to exclaim, indignant that he was being told off by a Slytherin of all people, but Harry cut him off.

"Aqua Eructo!" Harry called out. Ron was really beginning to get on Harry's nerves at this point. He didn't stop casting the spell, making it into a continuous stream. The water hit Ron's face hard, splashing all over the corridor, eliciting more squeaks from Hermione and Neville as well as awe and fear from Dean. Ron was unable to speak.

After a few seconds of this, Harry let up the stream of water and allowed his irritation to subside. He let out a breath and set up his magical radar again and felt the presence of a small animal nearby. 'Mrs. Norris!' Harry cast a wide-spread hot-air charm and dried the corridor up within seconds as he sensed the infamous cat run off to wherever Mr. Filch was.

Harry knew that Filch was surprisingly fast once summoned and didn't dare to waste any time getting away but he surmised that Filch was closer than he initially thought and so ran to the closest door, and, noticing it was locked, cast the basic unlocking charm 'alohomora.'

"Everyone get inside, do you want to be caught by Filch or not?" Dean half-dragged Ron, who was still getting over the stunned feeling he was experiencing after being hit by the water-making spell while Hermione and Neville left their hiding places to join Harry.

"Harry? How did you know Filch was coming?" Hermione asked, scared.

"Shh, not now!" Harry said in a hushed tone.

He closed the door just in time because Filch had just rounded the corner with Mrs. Norris.

That's when he heard the chuckle within the walls again.

"Where were they Mrs. Norris? Down here? Students shouldn't be down here, it's out of bounds… When we catch them, they'll be expelled for sure!" Filch said excitedly.

The chuckle within the walls burst into full-out laughter.

"PEEVES!" Filch shouted angrily. "Get out here, now!"

"What services of Peeves do you require?" cackled the poltergeist.

"There were students here, where did they go?!" Filch demanded, his mood was soured by Peeves' presence and wanted nothing to do with the being.

"Say please!" he said with a chuckle.

"I demand you tell me now!" Filch spluttered.

"Won't say nothing until you say please!" Peeves said in his signature sing-song voice.

"Alright, please!"

"Nothing! Ha haha! Told you Peeves shan't say nothing until you said please!" Peeves said laughing and whooshed off.

Filch grumbled and stomped his feet, almost kicking Mrs. Norris causing the cat to hiss. The pair then walked off. By the time they were walking away, Ron, Dean, Hermione, and Neville all gave a sigh in relief. Harry had noticed the giant dog before he went inside but he didn't want to risk getting caught, after all, he could handle danger if it came down to it, he hoped.

"Don't make any sudden noises or movements," Harry whispered to the four as calmly as he could. They finally noticed the giant three-headed dog slobbering all over the floor, breathing and growling heavily at them. "Open the door and leave as calmly as you can, watch out for Filch, try not to disturb the dog on the way out, I'll try to distract it."

The cerberus took a step towards them and growled louder when Ron twitched. The three heads barked quietly and Ron shrieked, pulled the door open, and ran. The dog began to snap and bark up a storm trying to get at the the remaining four students but they all quickly ran out of there. Harry nearly had his legs torn off as he was the closest.

'I may be strong but there's nothing quite like the feral instinct and speed of a beast like a cerberus…' Harry thought. He slammed the door shut and cast a bunch of different spells that even a sixth or seventh year would have trouble undoing. Filch and his cat were coming back quickly, he could feel it, so he ran as fast as he could down a different path, fortunate in that he managed to avoid the teachers and prefects on their patrols, though he did nearly run into Professor Snape who was headed towards the third floor corridor. He ducked behind a heavy tapestry and waited for the man to pass.

Arriving back to his room within the next five minutes, Harry crashed onto his bed. Turning over, he looked blankly at the ceiling.

'There was a trap door there, was that dog guarding something? If so, what and why? And why was there only a basic unlocking charm required to open that door? Something's wrong here. I wonder if Ron will renege on his side of the terms of the duel,' Harry thought suspiciously.

"I wonder if it'll be possible to talk with Hermione now."

With that last comment, sleep consumed him.

* * *

 **dragonfighter11: Thanks for pointing out aguamenti to me, I looked it up again and apparently it's a sixth year charm but aqua eructo is a 4th year spell. I don't know what you mean by redundant so you'll have to explain that to me in a pm this time.**

 **update note: Harry receiving the broom**

 **Edit: I'm thinking of adding more to the chapter but I'm not sure if I will or if I'll save it for the next one.**


	9. Switch

**A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing, I still don't know what I'm doing but thank you. :)**

 **Edit: Due to some stuff I've had to deal with since this chapter was uploaded, progress on chapter 10 won't begin for several more days, thank you for your patience. I'll try to have the chapter out in the first week of July provided nothing comes up, otherwise it'll be the week after.**

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 ** _"flashback spoken dialogue"_**

 ** _'flashback thought'_**

(I hope I've been sticking true to the above format of dialogue etc.)

Enjoy the show

* * *

 **Switch**

For the time until Halloween, Hermione refused to talk to Harry even though he had won the duel between him and Ron. It made sense because his acceptance of the duel led to them nearly being mauled to death by a Cerberus dog. Ron and Dean's involvement had nearly gotten them all into trouble and so Hermione took it upon herself to ignore Harry, Ron, and Dean. Neville was excused because he had been tricked by some unknown Slytherin. He wasn't able to tell who it was because they had got him by surprise and were out of his line of sight.

Harry kept trying to apologize to Hermione but every time she noticed Harry coming towards her she stopped what she was doing and left as quickly as she could. He tried figuring out some way of apologizing to her throughout the week but just had no idea how. After all, is it possible to apologize without being able to interact with the person you wronged? That was what Harry was thinking.

On the day of the 31st of October, smells of delicious Halloween cooking wafted through the lower corridors of the castle and Harry was excited for the feast. He wondered what kind of feast Hogwarts could provide. Then he remembered the day and his mood dropped several levels.

Halloween in the year of 1981, when Harry was just a year old, lost his parents to the dark wizard Voldemort.

This would lead the now-orphaned Harry to live with Petunia Dursley, his mother's sister and her family and suffer their abuse for about five years. Five long and lonely years. Things of course picked up when they attacked him one last time which Harry supposed allowed him to release his magic, but on a level that was not intended for any child which would explain why he had to release his energy into the air. 'I never brought it up as an issue after that but I'm going to make sure they get their punishment some day. Child and physical abuse isn't something many people enjoy and they certainly seemed to enjoy it, but I'll wait until Dudley is old enough to take care of himself, he's not exactly innocent either but he's been influenced by Vernon and Petunia.'

Of course it was all just a guess and Harry wasn't sure why he had so much power afterwards but it gave him the chance to make a friend in Allison, though he wasn't sure why he rebuffed her friendship at first. Given his past, he should've jumped at the chance to make a friend. The biggest moment in their friendship was that one defining moment of magic.

'I wonder if we'll ever learn what that was? The moment we made real contact for the first time, we were unable to break it and silver lights enveloped us, making an incredible amount of noise.' Harry thought. 'Then we knew the basics about each other. But somehow things were different with that knowledge. I'm glad she was persistent after that or else that day would have remained as just a moment of incredible magic. I wonder why those witches and wizards never came back to inspect the area, my compulsion charm wasn't permanent.'

Harry mused about his life since he discovered his magic until he heard some loud Gryffindor girls broke him out of it.

"That Hermione girl, she ran crying to the bathroom in one of the corridors in the dungeon after charms class, apparently she knows that no one likes her now."

"I bet she already knew."

"Either way, she wants to be left alone and I'm more than happy to oblige."

The girls soon walked away out of earshot and Harry now had another thought.

'She's hurt, that much is clear. But why? I didn't extend my friendship once before, I should try that now."

It didn't work. Hermione told him to go away then once she realized it was Harry, she screamed at him to get out of the girl's bathroom and to leave her alone. He did try to make an effort to talk to her but she brandished her wand at him. Harry got the message and left but he did say that he hoped to see her at the feast. 'Not sure if she could hear me though,' Harry thought sadly.

'What did happen to her?' Harry wondered. He hoped to find out soon enough. 'There was something about her charms class today, but what though?'

He met up with Allison later. There was no point in celebrating alone when you had a friend, right? The Great Hall smelled amazing and the mouths of the residents all watered in anticipation. There were tons of bats that fluttered about the ceiling, sometimes swooping down around the tables. Jack-o'-lanterns floating around, filling the air, the light within flickering whenever a bat flew too close.

"How have your classes been?" Harry asked Allison as he bit into a potato.

"So great!" she said with wonder, "I never expected anything like this! But it seems almost too easy, you know? I feel like I could be doing more. I want to do more."

He remembered another thing, though this was a result of the silver bond that he and Allison shared. When she was younger, in a different life, she had created a miniature version of the solar system without having any knowledge of magic, yet she accomplished it by poking and whispering at something. At least, that's what she told the other him from the other life.

"Try ancient runes, there is a lot of magical potential in them but they are tedious to set up. I believe they only start teaching runes during third year so studying them now would give you a head start. I have some notes in my trunk, I can give them to you later if you want."

"That'd be great, thanks Harry!" She beamed at him.

The doors to the Great Hall burst open and Professor Quirrell, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, sprinted in and collapsed by the head table shouting, "Troll! In the dungeons! Thought you ought to know!" and promptly passed out. Harry looked upon the unconscious turban-wearing professor with some curiosity. Though he did somewhat pay attention in his classes but preferred to read the other books he had bought instead. The professor taught in a way that Harry felt was not worth his time even if he hadn't already learned the material years before. He supposed Professor Quirrell had acquired the teaching position due to his experience but he wasn't sure, something was off about the man. A lot of people started screaming and Dumbledore sent off several firecrackers exploding to silence the room. "Prefects," he said firmly, "Lead your Houses back to your dormitories immediately!" Harry was bewildered by this.

The prefects began to do their duties but Harry stood up and said loudly to the Hall in his usual flat tone. "That seems a little dangerous though, doesn't it? If the troll is in the dungeons, shouldn't the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs be staying here? We don't know where in the dungeons the troll is and it could be too close for either House to make it back to their dormitories."

"That, is a good point, Mr. Potter, very well! Hufflepuffs and Slytherins will stay here, Gryffindors and Ravenclaws will go on ahead!"

"Go join your House now, Ms. Taylor," Professor Flitwick said from the head table, and then turned to converse with the other professors.

"I'll see you later then, Harry," Allison whispered, getting up to join her fellow Ravenclaws.

Whispering back, Harry said, "I'm coming with, Hermione is still in one of the bathrooms in the dungeon and I know where she is, but go back to your common room, it'll be easier for me right now." Allison was confused but nodded.

He could see it too. How would he be able to leave when he's clearly in Slytherin? It was easy, people were conversing among themselves about Quirrell passing out and the troll, not paying attention to him at the moment and the teachers were too busy figuring out how to take care of the troll.

So he followed the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws out of the Great Hall where he made a detour rather than continue with them all the way. "Good luck, Harry," Allison whispered as he made his split and he nodded in return.

Before Harry entered the next corridor that would lead to the bathroom that Hermione was in, he noticed Snape, alone, heading to the upper floors. 'What are you doing Snape? The troll is in the dungeons.'

He rounded a corner and noticed a terrible smell that filled the corridor. 'The troll is here, I don't hear screams so she must be safe at the moment.' Though Harry regretted his words when the entire corridor began to quake from the troll that was coming smell thickened in the air and Harry nearly threw up from the stench. The troll came right up to the bathroom door where Hermione was still in and sniffed the air. It went inside and Hermione began to scream. 'Dang it! I'm too late!'

He put mind over matter and ran into the bathroom where the troll was slowly advancing on Hermione who was backed against the wall screaming. Sinks and stalls were being smashed, water pouring uncontrolled from the broken pipes, flooding the floor. "Hermione come on!" Harry shouted. She couldn't hear him over the noise of the troll who was indiscriminately breaking whatever it could lay its club on.

Harry ran in front of Hermione and nearly crashed into the wall. He had read about how trolls had thick hides, not impervious to magic but it was tough to affect them with it. It kept advancing. A lot of adult witches and wizards were able to take care of magical creatures but they often did it in groups. He may have had a lot of power but he was still by himself. The troll swung its club into the closest stall, sending bits of wood and metal flying far too close to Harry.

"STOP!" The troll did stop and blinked, looking around at whatever made the noise. Harry cast the severing charm "Diffindo!" at the troll and it did cause quite the gash in the troll's chest, it was nothing and the troll roared but kept on moving. "Aqua Eructo!" Harry pointed his wand at the troll and summoned a huge jet of water that struck the troll and though it stopped its movement it did not knock the troll down. Incendio barely charred the beast's hide. The troll now angry, raised its club, ready to smash Harry and Hermione into bits.

"No!" A green flame made its way from Harrys hand, twirled around his wand, and blasted towards the troll. Not only did the flame push the troll back, it punched a massive hole through its chest and kept pushing the troll back to the door. With one final push, Harry destroyed the entrance to the bathroom with the troll and smashed it into the wall opposite in the corridor. When the dust settled, smoke was coming from the hole in the troll's chest, the dead troll lying atop a pile of rubble. There were footsteps and then silence. Harry heard the voices of the professors through the smoke and cursed. He couldn't stay and be found, revealing his secret to the staff, he just couldn't trust them but it was only a matter of time. He knew apparating was impossible within Hogwarts due to the wards but the disillusionment charm should be possible, right? He had been invisible at times to avoid the Dursleys or just the general public when it felt too much.

Hermione was in shock too, she couldn't say a word and Harry signalled for her to be quiet and she nodded, eyes wide. He tapped his wand on Hermione's head and her face twisted in disgust for some reason but she soon faded from sight. Harry then twirled his wand around himself and he too faded from sight. With barely a whisper, Harry cast the levitation spell on himself and Hermione, holding onto her the entire time. He then cast the banishing charm. 'Depulso' and held back on the energy that would send them flying into the professors or into the wall.

"What on Earth?" McGonagall's voice said in shock. "Who could have done such a thing?"

Snape had arrived with them and looked at the troll. "Only someone with incredible power. It cannot be the headmaster." The potions professor thought of one small individual with incredible talent and skill in magic but banished the thought. Why would the boy be here of all places anyhow?

Dumbledore arrived and inspected the area casting his eyes every which way but when he seemingly found nothing, he inspected the wound on the troll. "The troll is dead, dealt a painful one if these wounds are any indication…"

Harry didn't want to hear any more and continued to cast the levitation and banishing charms to keep them moving. Once he was far enough away from the professors, he cancelled the spells he had placed on them and sighed.

"Hermione, I-," Harry began to say.

She threw her arms around him in a tight hug. "Thank you Harry, thank you! Thanks for saving me!" Harry was thrown off. He didn't expect the hug but he returned it and she hugged him tighter. When they pulled apart, Harry could see wonder in her eyes, and a little bit of fear.

"How did you do that? That was incredible! Those spells, that fire!" she literally started to bounce a little. She was almost like Allison, Harry almost smiled. They would get along fabulously he was sure.

"I will explain it all later, but I have to get back to the Great Hall before someone realizes I'm missing, will you be alright going back to the Gryffindor tower?

"Yes I'll be fine," she replied, her eyes still studying him with wonder. She went to hug him one more time and suddenly in Harry's mind there was a flash of light and saw Hermione in Charms.

'The rumours are true then… she is rather condescending in class. Or rather, she's patronizing in the way she helps people,' Harry thought. He pulled himself out of the vision and saw Hermione wide-eyed. She shook her head.

"Good night, Harry," she said a little less than happy. Harry supposed this was because she also saw that memory when he saw it.

"See you tomorrow, Hermione," Harry turned and slipped back into the Great Hall without trouble. The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were all still partying about, many were talking and joking about how the troll even got into the castle in the first place.

Harry quietly made his way back to his seat and sat down without a word. Looking around, he noticed that Tracy Davis and Draco Malfoy were looking at him inquisitively. Even Daphne Greengrass glanced at him. He knew then that they noticed his disappearance. But who else? Rumours flew around the castle quite quickly and so he hoped that the staff and students wouldn't find out about the troll and if they did, they would think it was the wards that stopped it somehow. He was sure the rest of the staff would know but it would be kind of hard to explain a big smoking hole in a troll's chest as a defensive ward.

He wondered which students had noticed his disappearance and would be able to make the connection.

No one said anything though, not even when the professors returned and announced that it was safe to go back to their dormitories.

Later on when Harry was lying in bed, he thought back on a few things. When Snape had returned from wherever he was heading, he was limping though it was nearly unnoticeable. He wasn't sure what else it could be other than the Cerberus in the third floor corridor. 'If it was because of the dog, then what is under that trap door? Hagrid had done something for Dumbledore so whatever they're doing, it must be for that package.'

Also about Draco Malfoy. The boy had been steadfastly ignoring Harry ever since the first night but he pranced around acting like a prince among commoners. Another thing was that he almost seemed like he was taking the backstage whenever the Slytherins harassed the Muggle-born students but he wasn't sure about that. 'Did I really get to him? He still seems rather arrogant though. He was very rude in Madam Malkins and it seems like not much has changed from then to now.'

'That fire that I struck the troll with, it wasn't like the killing curse because it caused some serious damage,' Harry thought with a pause.'Lord Ragnok had said there was some kind of ancient anomaly in my blood and if even a well-learned person like Ragnok is unable to read what it was, then who could?'

He hoped it wouldn't be too long before he found out about his magic.

"But where would I even start?"

 **oOoOo**

As soon as Harry woke up the next day, he grabbed some parchment and wrote a note that said, 'Come sit with me and Allison at the Slytherin table.' Harry showered and got dressed then headed up to the Owlery. He hadn't seen or spoken to Hedwig since he had arrived at Hogwarts and missed her terribly. Ever since the sorting, Hagrid had refused to talk to Harry and would run as soon as he noticed. Ron was too hateful of all things Slytherin, and Allison and Hermione had to deal with their own demons. Neville was different though, he seemed scared of Harry for some reason. So without any friends, he had no correspondence. He had no excuse really as to why he didn't visit Hedwig so he was going to start making up for it today.

Harry brought the note to Hedwig and talked about what's been happening. He felt like she knew already but it was nice talking to someone who didn't look at him with scorn. He closed his eyes and brushed his head against Hedwig who did the same. They may have only really met just recently but they felt close together. To forget an emotional bond would be painful for them especially so therefore they would make up for the time.

"I promise to come around more often when I can" a hoot of a reply and Harry smiled, feeling a load lifting from his heart.

At breakfast, the castle was somewhat quiet, Harry was relieved, it took the castle two months to stop their incessant obsessiveness with him. Allison went from the Ravenclaw table to sit beside Harry though there was still some grumbling, people seemed to accept her position about him and wouldn't make a fuss, but it was clear not many people were happy with it. The usual rush of owls came flying in and Hedwig first dropped off the note for Hermione before flying over to Harry to partake of some of his breakfast before hooting once more and flying back to the Owlery.

Hermione read the note and slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way to the Slytherin table. There was some attention on Hermione until they realized she was looking at Harry and Allison and left it alone, Ron grumbled, glaring at Harry with Dean and Seamus.

'Does Ron have nothing else to do but hate me? Honestly,' Harry thought, amused. He also thought that maybe people were afraid of him now or realized it wasn't a good idea to mess with Harry. Maybe his and Ron's duel had reached the ears of the rest of the students?

When Hermione sat down, Harry set up a bubble of silence around them. "How are you feeling now, Hermione? Are you alright?" He asked. She was quite shaken up before he had saved her from the troll after all.

"I feel better now, thank you," Hermione replied, more happy than the previous night.

"It's been a while, Hermione," Allison said, holding her hand out and Hermione shook it.

"It has, I'm glad we're together again, I also wouldn't be here right now had Harry not saved my life last night," she send, her eyes looked toward Harry with that same curiosity as the night before.

"What happened?

"The troll found me and was heading towards me, I couldn't move, I was too scared," Hermione explained. She involuntarily began to shake as she remembered the hulking beast advance towards her. "But then Harry arrived and started using a bunch of spells at it that did nothing and then-," she leaned in towards Allison and whispered, "blasted it away with some kind of green fire, it was nothing like I'd ever seen or heard of before."

Allison turned her head too look at Harry with the same wonder he'd seen in Hermione the night before and the first time he had shown her magic and Harry let out a chuckle at the sight. Turning back around, Allison said, "Harry is quite powerful, he's been studying magic for years now, but I think he should fully explain it to you. I'm so glad you're alright."

Now that both of them were looking to Harry, he sat up and spoke. "I sort of unleashed my magic with the help of my relatives at the age of 6 and have more or less been studying magic since then. I've also read quite a few books on the subjects that we'd be learning from our third year and beyond as well as how to apply them. I know how to apparate though that was mostly by accident. Life has not been easy for me, in fact, it was near fatal but that experience has led me to learning all I've been able in that time. In the next five years I'll be putting even more time into applications of magic to expand my repertoire of abilities but don't worry," Harry said, taking a deep breath, seeing their looks, "I'll study what I've already studied to keep what I've learned with me."

"What's 'apparate'?" Hermione asked, she couldn't work out what the word meant and the only thing she could think of was apparition like a ghost..

"It's the ability to teleport oneself from one place to another in an instant, but I don't recommend trying to learn it yet, it's meant to be learned when you're older and more in control of yourself and your magic," Harry replied, hoping his blank tone was more serious than normal to imply how dangerous it was.

"Wow, and you did it by accident? That must have been strange," she said excitedly. Hermione had learned a lot from the first year books but she hadn't seen much about the more advanced magicks yet and it was fascinating for her to hear about it.

"It's been a while since that day so I can't remember the exact feeling I had then but I can tell you it's sort of like being squeezed through a very small rubber tube," Harry said somewhat sheepishly.

Hermione went quiet for a moment and they kept eating breakfast, class was about to start so they had to head to their respective classes. "Oh! So that's how you knew that aqua eructo spell! When do we learn that?" Hermione asked, she finished her last bite and had picked up her bag again.

"I think it's taught in fourth year, so you'll have time. If you both really want to, try studying the higher levels in your spare time, it will give you time to 'catch up' to me," Harry said, also grabbing his bag.

"I don't know why I didn't think of doing that already, I've been so focused on just my first year studies that I never thought to spare any time for anything more difficult," Allison whispered to them both.

Harry took down the wall of silence and said to Allison and Hermione, "See you at Lunch, Allison."

"Bye Harry, Hermione!" Allison replied with a quick wave.

"Ready for double potions?" Hermione asked Harry sarcastically.

"Never, I have no idea what I'm doing," Harry replied.

Hermione laughed.

 **oOoOo**

The next two weeks passed by so quickly, Harry was almost thrown off. With Hedwig and Allison and Hermione constantly in touch, Harry's heart felt lighter than it had been since the school year started. He was also quite busy with Quidditch practice that the captain Marcus Flint organized every so often because the first game of the season was coming up.

It was also getting colder, frost began to settle on the ground every morning and windows would ice up but it had yet to snow so Quidditch practice kept them warm and if anyone slacked they would get colder and no one wanted that so they practiced harder.

He had found that he flew incredibly well and even faster than the others with the Nimbus 2000 so Marcus Flint felt more comfortable with Harry as the seeker, even though he trusted in Terence Higgs' ability he felt more sure that they would win with Harry as the driving force.

Marcus wasn't stupid either, he knew the current team could be outplayed by the Gryffindor team because of how hard and how often the captain, Oliver Wood, made them practice. Not only that but the Weasley twins were really good beaters, always in sync. Harry was not exactly fragile but a heavy metal ball being hit with great force would injure or kill anyone and he wasn't sure what the Weasley twins thought of him.

They were known as pranksters, jokers. Slytherins especially found themselves being targeted but not necessarily harmed. Thankfully, Harry had yet to have been targeted by them but felt like it was only a matter of time. He was sure that although the general attitude in Gryffindor was negative towards Slytherin, that the Gryffindor Quidditch team wouldn't resort to underhanded tactics like Marcus had trained them to do.

Finally, the day of the first game arrived and Harry was astounded with the attitude in the Great Hall. It seemed like everyone prepared to go out to watch the match, a lot of people were jeering at him especially but this time he could tell it was mostly about Quidditch.

"Hope you get hit by a bludger, Potter!" was the one that most people shouted at him.

Gryffindors and Slytherins all jeered at each other but the players themselves were focused on preparing for the match, physically and mentally. The breakfast that was ready in the Great Hall was a standard breakfast that could be found throughout the United Kingdom but Harry didn't eat too much, only enough to endure the activity he would soon be going through.

'This crowd is unbelievable, I should have realized it before but this world is really into Quidditch," Harry thought, observing them all. Cheering and whooping. The general support of the students seemed like it was for the Gryffindor team, but seemingly a quarter or more of the Ravenclaws were all for Slytherin.

Allison and Hermione came up.

"Good luck, Harry, I'll be rooting for you and you alone," Allison whispered. Hermione said the same thing. They both explained that while Harry was a nice person, the rest of their team and especially the captain was quite a horrible person, they then sat back down together at the Ravenclaw table.

"Slytherin to your locker rooms!" Marcus Flint ordered. It was about fifteen minutes to eleven o' clock. Dressed in scarves and warm robes, the rest of the school slowly headed out to the spectator's stand.

Allison and Hermione waved and mouthed 'good luck' to him before getting up and leaving. Harry got up with his team and they started heading out to the Quidditch pitch.

Once in the lockers, they got changed into their Quidditch robes, for Slytherin, they were coloured dark green.

"Alright you lot, you know what to do, let's go!" Flint commanded.

'No big speech? I guess this is Slytherin but even still,' Harry thought, grabbing his Nimbus.

The team stepped onto the Quidditch pitch amidst cheers and jeers, the crowd roaring.

It was a somewhat windy, cloudy day but Harry felt like it would be no problem in the air.

Madam Hooch would be refereeing, Harry noticed she was standing in the direct center of the pitch. Once both the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams were gathered around her, she spoke. By this point, Harry's heart was starting to race. He was getting excited. The crowd was watching.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," she said, looking at them all but with a particularly stern tone and gaze towards Flint.

"Mount your brooms!" she called out. "Ready?" Madam Hooch produced a loud blast from her silver whistle and 15 broomsticks rose into the air.

The Quaffle was taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor which was then passed to Alicia Spinnet very neatly. Lee Jordan was a third year student in Gryffindor and he was announcing what was happening. Alicia Spinnet tried passing back to Angelina but was intercepted by Flint and he flew up and over towards the Gryffindor end of the pitch. He smirked and tried to fake his throw but Oliver Wood as Keeper saw it coming and easily blocked it.

Flint wasn't pleased.

Katie Bell, the third chaser, took the Quaffle but was forced to drop it in order to dodge the bludger sent her way by the older Slytherin beater. Alicia Spinnet picked up the Quaffle and sped off with Angelina to the Slytherin end. Harry pulled focus away from the rest of the match and started looking for the Snitch. He kept seeing glints of metal but realized they were just people's watches.

"And here is Harry Potter, flying around, unexpectedly in Slytherin House and now somehow Seeker for the Slytherin team!"

He kept ducking and weaving between both teams. The Gryffindor seeker was new to Quidditch but only because no one in Gryffindor seemed to have passed the trial for Oliver's standards but he looked like he had no real idea what to do, he was panicking. Harry had flown close to him and the boy, Harry thought his name was Calum, nearly jumped off his broom. That wouldn't have been good. A second after that both bludgers were hit at him immediately and he had to roll hard to avoid one and leaned back on his broom to avoid the other by an inch. Harry took a second to make sure he was actually still there. Harry looked towards Fred and George Weasley and they both smirked at him. 'Creepy. That was so close.'

Harry decided to slow down and not waste his energy flying around the players and so went up slightly higher than the rest and flew at a slower pace, looking for some sign of the snitch.

"Was that the snitch?" Lee Jordan's voice cut back to him and Harry noticed the snitch fluttering near the other seeker. He was too far from it but he dived after it anyways. Calum noticed him coming and turned around. As Harry caught up, he realized that Harry was after the Snitch and also sped off but Marcus Flint decided to block him with a laugh and a smirk. Madam Hooch blew her whistle

He saw this and refused to grab the Snitch and so it flew off, out of sight. Flint's face went from smug smirk to angry snarl in a matter of seconds. "You do that again and I'll punish you!" He shouted at Harry.

"FOUL!" the Gryffindors shouted.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and gave the Gryffindor chasers a free shot at the goal and Alicia Spinnet threw it passed the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, easily.

Harry was flying back up to his position and dodged a bludger that was sent away when his broom nearly bucked him off. 'What just happened?' Harry looked around but saw nothing noticeable that he could tell. Harry flew several meters above the rest of the pitch and grabbed a hold of his magic. His broom kept bucking harder and harder which made it even more difficult to hold on but he had yet to lose control.

"Oh no! The Slytherins score their first goal making it 20 to 10! Wait a second, something's wrong with Harry Potter's broom!"

The broom bucked again but Harry kept a tight grip, though he was nearly thrown off, he even gave a little shout in surprise. He remembered something in that moment, when his power first came to light, he had blocked a spell with his magic. He had subconsciously been keeping it up for so long that he forgot about it. He made to encompass that same energy around the broom which gave one more heavy buck which nearly threw him off but his tight grip on the broom allowed him to swing himself back onto the broom with some momentum. It was terrifying to dangle over the air like that, even if it was just for a split second. Even though he was sure the majority of the castle still hated his guts, the crowd gasped loudly in that one moment and sighed in relief in the next second.

"And with surprising agility, Potter makes it back onto his broom which appears to have stopped jumping!"

Harry was now focusing on the crowd, his face hardened as he searched where the source of the jinx came from. He pulled in all of his external magic to settle all throughout the Quidditch pitch and there were two sources. One was the jinx and the other seemed to be a counter jinx. He ignored the counter and focused in on the jinx, letting go of his radar but keeping the shield up.

'Professor Quirrell… But why though? What are you up to?' Harry regarded the professor with suspicion when Lee Jordan's voice called out again. There was something else too, something sinister around Quirrell but Harry couldn't tell with his focus being split.

"The score is now 20 to 40! The Slytherin chasers must have put the Quaffle through while we were all distracted!

As he was shouting that out though, Harry was still half-focused on Quirrell. That's when the Weasley twins shouted something and one of the two bludgers came whistling by, Harry was still half focused on Quirrell and therefore was struck in the side hard enough to force the air out of him.

"And Fred Weasley strikes Potter with a bludger, that looks like it hurts!" Lee Jordan cheered with the crowd at this before continuing with his commentary, "Katie Bell dodges a bludger and throws the Quaffle back to Angelina Johnson who fakes a throw before passing it to Alicia Spinnet who fakes a throw as well but Miles Bletchley falls for it and Alicia Spinnet scores!" The score counter now read as 30 to 40. The speed of the match increased as the Gryffindor team got closer to taking back their lead.

Harry gasped for breath hard, one hand gripping his broom, the other hand holding his side. His focus was now solely back on Quidditch and he heard something whistling nearby and rolled wildly to the side to avoid the bludger he assumed was sent by George Weasley. His side ached greatly but Harry put mind over matter and dove back into the weaving colours of red and green, maybe he would find the snitch there, though he was slowing down.

As he dove, he looked at the Gryffindor Keeper and for a split second, Oliver Wood floated up to the right and the Snitch was by his feet. Harry kicked and sped off, startling Calum who was right in front of him but also sped off in chase of Harry.

"Looks like Potter's seen the Snitch! And Potter is almost neck and neck with the Gryffindor Seeker Calum! If Potter catches the Snitch here, it'll be a victory for Slytherin, will the Weasley twins be able to stop him?!" Lee Jordan shouted. Unfortunately for the Gryffindor team, the Weasley twins had yet to get back to the bludgers for a good hit.

The Snitch dove very close to the grass of the pitch and Harry dove after it, Calum following behind, but he just wasn't fast enough.

Harry was going too low to pull up and he was about to crash. He jumped off his broom and in that moment, the Snitch doubled back towards Calum who had already begun to pull up but Harry thrust his hand out to the side and caught the Snitch just enough with his fingertips. Harry was falling now and quickly curled into a ball. He half-rolled half-crashed into the Quidditch pitch while the Nimbus broom bounced a few feet away. Harry stood up, holding his side and the Snitch safely in his grasp to show the crowd.

"Potter's caught the Snitch," Lee Jordan said dejectedly but he perked right back up. "Slytherin has won 210 to 30!"

 **oOoOo**

"Professor Snape was jinxing you Harry, I saw it!" Hermione said, she was pacing around, thinking deeply. This was several hours after the match, Harry had joined the Slytherin's party in the dormitory but Marcus Flint was still angry with him so he didn't stay too long. He wandered around the castle until Hermione and Allison found him.

"She's right, he was watching you, constant eye-contact, unblinking and muttering something which was the jinx that was clearly affecting your broom," Allison agreed, nodding. They had noticed Snape but not Quirrell which Harry supposed made sense. Snape was known to be very very tough, a horrible person and not the best teacher by most of the students, and he also favoured Slytherin students but strangely, tended to ignore Harry for the most part so he would stand out more.

'There's always a hint of regret in his eyes, but why though? We don't know each other,' Harry had thought.

"I was going to set him on fire but your broom stopped trying to kill you and you managed to get back on so I didn't get the chance," Hermione said with a sinister glint in her eye. Allison laughed seeing this look, Harry grinned.

"Actually, I did some magic and it was actually Quirrell who was jinxing me, there was another that was casting some kind of counter-jinx so that must have been was Snape was doing," Harry explained. "I want to know now though. What exactly is Quirrell up to? Why did he try to knock me off of my broom?"

"We'll keep a close eye on him, we'll try to figure out what he's up to if we can," Hermione said confidently.

"There's another thing. I haven't told you guys yet because I was still figuring it out for myself. I think something is being kept here at Hogwarts, something that the headmaster and the professors are trying to protect. When I was taken to Gringotts, Hagrid said he needed to pick something up for Dumbledore. I wasn't really able to see what it was but," Harry paused, taking a breath. "It was something small. Snape I think went up to the third floor to try to get passed the Cerberus and into that trap door that was beneath it, I don't know if you had noticed that, Hermione." She nodded. "But I think that's where the object is being kept hidden and that's where Snape had gone on Halloween, he was limping when he arrived at the bathroom and what else could cause that to happen with a teacher? It was most likely that dog scratching him or biting him or something."

"So in addition to figuring out what Quirrell is up to, we need to figure out what Dumbledore is trying to hide? How are we going to do that? The professors aren't necessarily going to just tell us what we want us to know," Allison questioned him.

"Well Dumbledore is quite old, maybe what he's trying to hide is mentioned in the books or news somewhere, we could start there," Hermione replied to Allison.

"We could try visiting Hagrid too, he hasn't talked to me since I got sorted into Slytherin but he's somewhat close to Dumbledore right? He might refuse me but he likes you two I'm sure," Harry suggested, agreeing with them.

"We should do this as carefully as we can and try to avoid the professors, who knows what they might do if they find out?" Hermione warned. Harry and Allison nodded.

"Then let us begin."

* * *

 **A/N:** **Thanks for reading, please leave a review, I'll take it into consideration and may or may not change parts of the chapter or add more so keep that in mind. (Also I've reread this chapter several times and have changed a few things, fixing mistakes and whatnot but if you notice something glaring or missing please tell me, thank you very much) :)**

 **MastrDragn: Thank you, I don't know how I didn't notice that I wrote Hagrid twice.**

Hope you enjoyed. See you next time. (Honestly can't believe I got this chapter out within 2 weeks, I'll see if I can do it again but the next week or two is going to be hectic so I may not be able to get the chapter out in the same frame of time)


	10. Open

_**A/N: Sorry that it's been a while (and that I was a little late) but I got it done, hope you enjoy it. Also I've made a small edit to the end of chapter 3 in case anyone hasn't seen that.**_

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 ** _"flashback spoken dialogue"_**

 ** _'flashback thought'_**

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

 _ **Open**_

It was several days after the Gryffindor vs Slytherin Quidditch match and they had yet to really plan on how they were going to talk to Hagrid. Hermione and Allison had insisted they study, though with Christmas fast approaching, even they had some trouble concentrating at times. Harry was pacing back and forth impatiently. He, Hermione, and Allison were in an empty classroom on the fifth floor. "How are we supposed to ask Hagrid what he knows? He does tend to talk a lot but even he is able to keep secrets and he always quiets down and tries leaving the area if he can when I'm there." It was true, every time he went to talk to Hagrid about seeing him for tea, the half-giant would move away from the area as fast as he could leaving Harry mid-sentence. Though the last time was interesting, Hagrid had actually looked at him for a solid minute before running off but Harry had been too surprised by the look he had actually forgotten what he was there for, at first.

"We'll just send a letter then," Hermione suggested. "Either Allison and I could write the letter and that way he won't refuse, right?"

Harry stared at Hermione with an open mouth for a moment before he closed his eyes in frustration and asked, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Sometimes it's better to work as a group than by yourself, Harry," Allison said with a half-hidden yawn.

Harry nodded with a smile then lowered his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was working in overtime for the last few days and was developing a headache. "Thanks for the suggestion, Hermione." She beamed at him. "Before we all head back to our dorms, anything new with Professor Quirrell?"

Allison spoke up this time. "I caught him wandering the third floor corridor muttering to himself. He seemed jumpy and was very wary of anything around him, at first I thought it was just another quirk of his like his stuttering or his turban but it seemed like he was actually talking to someone, taking a pause to hear their response, but I was not close enough and I didn't want to get caught so I'm not sure what it was all about."

"That's strange, even though he had his basic quirks, he's not been known to talk to himself, well, we'll just have to keep it up. At least we have some leads but right now I don't think I could think for another minute." Harry yawned loudly. The magic he was using to see wavered in that moment. "I should be going, and I'm thinking you two need the sleep too." They all had varying degrees of tiredness, Harry's exhaustion being the most apparent.

They bid each other a good night and went off to their own dormitories. Harry dragged his way back down to the Slytherin dormitory where he spoke the password to the door. Harry made his way to the boy's side of the dormitory and in spite of his exhaustion, he kept being wary. Even if it seemed like the Slytherin house tolerated him now, the older ones still looked at him with distrust if not hatred. He felt as if someone was watching him and turned to look around. Tracy Davis was watching him, eyes squinting but as soon as they locked eyes she quickly turned around and whispered to Daphne who only nodded along.

Harry didn't care, at least not yet. He'd think of what that meant later on. 'All I want is my bed right now.' Harry changed into his pajamas and was already asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

 **oOoOo**

Over the course of the next week the trio took it easier on their search for whatever was being guarded on the third floor. Harry felt like he didn't have enough info to keep going at the moment and was uselessly working himself into the ground. Hermione and Allison took out a book or two for some light reading, leaving it up to luck to figure out what was going on behind the scenes so that they could enjoy their time at Hogwarts a little more.

In their next potions class together, Harry slowed his process intentionally so that he could watch Hermione work. In that class, it seemed like whoever was her partner, though wary, was more receptive to her attempts to help. She was seen talking with Neville more often now in between classes.

Playfully nudging Hermione during the next meeting in the library, Harry quietly said to her, "You seem to be getting along with Neville now, seems like you have more friends than me and Allison now, I'm a little jealous." Allison chuckled. With the intentional bringing up of that particular topic, Harry threw up a wall of silence just in case, you could never be sure of who was listening.

"Oh, about that," Hermione whispered back. Allison looked up from her books to listen. "After you'd saved me from the troll, I saw myself in Charms class."

"What do you mean you saw yourself?" Allison asked.

"I saw myself back in charms class earlier that day and I saw how I was acting. Every word I'd said in that class was with a tone of condescension… It was only then that I realized that that's why people have been ignoring me, even Neville who was nicer than most people and my parents would've been so very disappointed with me." Hermione explained, "It was strange to have seen that memory with such clarity, it must have been magic right?"

"It had to have been magic, because I saw that memory too," Harry said. They looked at him in surprise.

"You saw that too?" Hermione gasped, "But why didn't you say anything?"

"At first I'd heard things about you from others but I didn't want to jump to conclusions without talking with you first but the 'goodness' of Gryffindor kept rebuffing me at every turn for weeks until the night of the duel and then you wouldn't talk to me," Harry explained, "Then when I saw the memory I was trying to figure out how to bring it up to you without pushing you away but it seemed like you figured things out on your own though so I didn't feel the need, and also I was just happy to have another friend with us and then there was Quidditch and the thing with Quirrell and Dumbledore that has kept you, me, and Allison busy since then."

"Well whatever happened, glad you're able to make friends now Hermione, hopefully you don't leave us for them," Allison said jokingly.

"I would not, I'd rather have you two as friends than all the friends a person could possibly have," Hermione replied with a smile. Allison smiled in return.

Harry nodded and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly. Harry was slowly beginning to drop his mask in the private meetings and study sessions with Hermione and Allison. He felt that the need to lock himself away was unnecessary in their company but he was still reluctant to be completely free. He had done it for so long now it was a habit and it was hard to let go. Allison had said that at least he was making progress. Still, at most he would give a small sign that would seem like he was just shifting to anyone else but that was enough for them.

 **oOoOo**

The next day, Harry had spent the early morning jogging around the castle grounds for a couple hours in the chill wintery air before he quickly warmed up due to the exertion. Working himself to a sweat, he eventually settled underneath a tree by the lake. Harry hadn't exercised as much as he used to due to his search for the connection that Dumbledore would have with whatever was in the vault at well as Quidditch practice. He decided to do so today because he wanted to work off whatever nervousness he'd built up in anticipation of the 'meeting' he would have with Hagrid later that day.

Allison had sent the letter to Hagrid asking if she could join him for tea. He had responded, agreeing as well as telling her to bring friends.

"That's strange, considering our friendship you'd think he'd be wary of you just as much as he is towards me," Harry said surprised.

"Maybe he's warming up to you? But this is strange," Hermione's eyes widened with curiosity, reading over the letter again.

"Well that's settled then, we'll be meeting with Hagrid tomorrow!" Allison chirped.

Watching the waves crash against the lake shore, Harry thought, 'I'm overthinking this, it's only because I met Hagrid and sort of got to know him. If I prove that I'm the same as I was that day, surely he'll open up again. If only I could call Hedwig down, that'd be amazing I think." Instead of overthinking, he would just not think at all and just relax.

He sat and did nothing but look around, ignoring the cold. The combination of the motions of the water, the slight breeze, the open sky with a cloud lazily moving across once in a while was very relaxing. Harry cleared his mind and noticed a flock of birds flying in the distance. 'What would it be like, to fly without the support of anything but a person's own ability? Of course it's possible for a person to fly with a broom and while it is a joy to do, it sometimes feels quite restricting to have to turn or pull up or angle downwards to move around. It must be amazing to move around like a bird… like Hedwig.' Deep breaths. Think about nothing but obscurities. 'I have power, a lot of it. Ollivander even said that I have a similar kind of power like Dumbledore. Would it be possible to use it to fly? With magic, almost anything should be possible, right? I have a lot of control, I can detect certain magic and can see with it. I can apparate and create walls of silence if I wish but… it seems like people have yet to figure out unsupported flying, at least, that I know of.'

The sound of fluttering wings broke Harry out of his musing and Hedwig descended. Harry held his arm out and the snowy owl landed upon it. "Well hey there Hedwig, what are you doing here? Did you come to see me?" Harry smiled at Hedwig now perched on his lap who only hooted in response. It seemed like it would be a good day or at the very least it would be a good start to the day. Even though Hedwig was perched silently upon him, he felt like things with Hagrid would be okay if not great but only time would tell… in four hours.

"How do I fly like you Hedwig? Hm?" Harry joked looking at Hedwig. The owl hooted and tilted her head slightly and gave him a look as if to say he was stupid for thinking he could fly like an owl. "It would be amazing though, to have free reign over the sky, the wind all around you, right?" An affirmative hoot.

Harry sat there by the tree with Hedwig on his lap, just watching the lake and the sky for another hour. It was peaceful and Harry resolved to do this every other week, he'd bring Hedwig down with him next time if she wanted to of course. Harry held up his arm and Hedwig hopped onto it. "I've got to get ready for breakfast, Hedwig, you should go hunting too, I'll see you again soon," Harry said. Hedwig hooted softly and flew off.

Harry headed back to the castle, showered and changed. On his way to the Great Hall to meet up with Hermione and Allison, he saw Marcus Flint talking with Terrence Higgs and thought back to the "meeting" they had after the game had been won.

Marcus Flint had berated him over what he had not done back in their first match. Harry took it all in calmly and asked if the team captain doubted his ability as a seeker.

"Do you remember what I told you?! Work with your team, screw with the opposing team, that's how we're going to win! You pull that stunt again and you're off the team, understand?!" Flint yelled at him in front of the entire team in the locker room after the match was over.

"Do you doubt my ability as a seeker? Is that why you're willing to cheat in order to win? I got the Snitch in spite of the Weasley twins bludgers and my broomstick that was going wild."

"You could've gotten the Snitch earlier and we would have won either way! You should have just taken the opportunity!"

"I know Slytherin house is full of the ambitious and cunning but is this really the actions of a Slytherin? Outright cheating where everyone sees what you've done? That's not very cunning, too obvious. That sounds more like the actions of a Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, possibly the occasional Ravenclaw. If you can't win without cheating in Quidditch, why bother playing at all?"

"I can always go back to Higgs and kick you off the team, Potter!" Flint spluttered in confused anger.

"Yes, yes you can, and I don't doubt that he's a good seeker but are you really willing to keep winning like a Gryffindor and give up my nimbus? I will destroy it," Harry threatened. He wouldn't. After all he had experienced, besides the company of Allison, Hedwig, and Hermione, flying was the most freeing thing he could experience. Harry did consider quitting but Snape did say that he would be allowed to keep the broom provided he kept winning for their team. He was sure that with the money in his main vault that he could just buy another broom but it was sure to be expensive and he didn't want to waste the gold on a new one.

After a moment of silence with some kind of internal struggle clear upon his face, Marcus Flint gave in and shouted, "Fine! You keep playing as you want! But that won't stop us from practicing as we have!"

Harry secretly hoped that Flint would fall off his broom sometimes and wished he did now but for the moment he would put the thought behind him.

"Hey Harry, you look happy," Hermione greeted.

"Is it that obvious?" Harry asked.

"Only to us it is," Allison said from the stairs, she arrived just as Harry did. "Hermione and I have figured out that there are quirks to your mask though you have to look for them." Harry closed his eyes in response and steeled his face to its usual look. It felt funny but it worked because the girls sighed.

Finally the time came and they were heading up to Hagrid's hut on the grounds for some tea, though the trio had something else in mind.

Allison knocked and said aloud, "Hey Hagrid, it's me! I brought my friends with me!" The instant she finished the last syllable a dog began barking and scrabbling at the door.

"Back Fang! Back!" came the loud rough voice of Rubeus Hagrid. The door opened and the man welcomed them in. "Hello Allison, nice to see ya again, come on in and make yourselves." Hagrid stepped back and tended to the kettle over the fire. Harry shared a look with Hermione and they all sat down.

The hut was a cozy little thing. Hams and pheasants were hung around in the single room and in the corner was a huge bed with a patchwork quilt on top. The dog named Fang was being very friendly licking at their faces which they all laughed at. Hagrid was silent though.

Harry steeled himself and walked to one of the windows and opened it and shouted as loud as he could, thinking back to the early morning. "HEDWIG!" The shout echoed far and wide yet no one could really tell whose voice it belonged to. But the gorgeous snowy owl came flying by in a matter of minutes. Every other occupant of the hut was surprised by the shout, Hagrid most of all and nearly knocked the kettle over, even Fang was now silent and paying attention. Harry held out his arm and Hedwig landed softly. Harry brought her inside.

"Hey girl, remember Hagrid?" he whispered. Speaking up, to Hagrid, Harry asked, "I know you've been avoiding me Hagrid, I know I'm in Slytherin and Slytherin has a terrible reputation but you met me, you know me, why?" Hedwig half glided to Hagrid's head and sat down upon his huge mane of bushy hair. The half-giant gently put the owl down onto a table who hooted almost indignantly but remained otherwise silent as he tended to the kettle for several minutes, the atmosphere felt thick, almost hard to breathe. Then he spoke.

"I was scared. So many dark witches and wizards have come from Slytherin. You-Know-Who was especially terrible." Hagrid pulled one of the hams he had strung up and cut off the knots before putting it down for Hedwig to snack on. "I thought it was terrible what happened to your parents and that scar. That scar was a symbol of hope to witches and wizards everywhere. When you were sorted into Slytherin, I thought maybe it wasn't a symbol of hope but rather a symbol showing that you were corrupted by the dark side, that Voldemort had destroyed your family in more ways than one. But then I saw you meeting with Allison and Hermione here for weeks now and I was working up the courage to apologize. I should have realized that even if you were sorted into Slytherin that that one moment with your owl in the shop proved you were anything like the Slytherin students that I've gotten used to seeing everyday."

"It's okay Hagrid, I'm just glad that you realized that. Most people still seem to think that I'm the second coming of You-Know-Who," Harry responded, stepping up to Hagrid and with an affirming squeeze on the big man's arm. Harry thought that it was too easy but there was no hint of a spell around them. He was glad, that meant Hagrid was genuine, at least he thought so. Allison and Hermione certainly thought so and they grinned at Harry who gave a small smile back.

"They may not be wrong, some people believe he's biding his time but he wouldn't come back if so many of his followers had returned to the good side as if they got out of a trance of sorts."

Hagrid put a bunch of rock cakes on a plate and the three took one each, biting into it which jarred them so much because of just how hard the rock cakes were, as if they were actual rocks, and put them down.

The four of them talked about their Hogwarts experience, Hagrid nodded as if he had heard the same from several students before but Harry could definitely tell it was a genuine smile. Lonely students coming to the one person who would listen and enjoyed their company he imagined.

Then they began edging their way to the topic of what was being guarded by the three headed dog in the third floor corridor. "Fluffy? How'd you all know about Fluffy?" Hagrid asked, dropping his rock cake onto the floor where Fang scratched at it.

"Fluffy? So you know what it is!" Allison exclaimed.

"Yeah he's mine, bought him off of an old Greek chappie I met in a pub last year and lent him to Professor Dumbledore to guard the-," Hagrid said before Hermione interrupted.

"Yes?" She asked eagerly.

"Don't ask anymore! That's top secret, I shouldn't be saying anything!" Hagrid said gruffly.

"But someone's trying to steal it! It might be Professor Quirrell!" Harry exclaimed.

"Rubbish! Why would he do that?"

Hermione replied instead when noticing Harry's pause at the question. "It was at the Quidditch game, Hagrid, Quirrell was looking at Harry unblinkingly muttering something, clearly he was jinxing Harry's broom to go haywire even though it didn't last more than a few moments."

Allison said the same as well.

"You're wrong!" Hagrid said a little hotly. "Quirrell may be strange but he wouldn't hurt a student! You three should stop trying to meddle in this, it doesn't concern you! Forget Fluffy, forget Professor Quirrell, this is a matter between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel!" Hagrid stopped dead silent. "I shouldn't have said that, I should not have said that, you three forget what I just said." Hagrid took away the tea and the rock cakes and shooed them out of his hut waving them goodbye as though nothing happened. Hedwig followed them out the door landing on Harry's shoulder.

"Well that was odd, but anyways, have either of you ever heard of Nicolas Flamel?" Harry asked. "I studied a lot yet I don't think I've ever come across the name."

"I've never heard of it but if Dumbledore is working with him, then surely he must be pretty well-known," Hermione surmised.

"If not well-known then at least he is someone that is as strong as Dumbledore maybe?" Allison asked.

"Well we have about three weeks before the holidays are here so we can figure it out then but in the meantime, don't forget about your other studies," Harry said needlessly. They rolled their eyes at him before they all headed up to the library.

 **oOoOo**

November became a thing of the past and December arrived and with it, so did even colder weather, snow sometimes drifted down from the sky as well. Harry brought Hedwig to Hagrid's hut so that she wouldn't have to stay cold in the Owlery. Every so often, an owl or two would be hurt by the stormy cold weather and they'd be healed by Hagrid at his hut and so Hedwig would see over the whole thing. According to Hagrid, these owls were even calmer than normal with Hedwig around, something the half-giant rarely ever saw even though it happened every year.

"I can't believe it's been nearly three weeks since and we've yet to figure out who Nicolas Flamel is, we've looked in so many books yet have found nothing just like before," Harry complained in an empty classroom that Hermione warmed up with a fire spell.

"To be fair, the holidays have come up and I've been thinking of mum and dad," Allison said wistfully. She missed her parents though they did send letters to each other with her hawk-owl every other week.

"Speaking of which, I didn't sign up to stay at Hogwarts," Hermione told them. "I'll be heading home for the holidays and I promised my parents that I wouldn't spend too much time studying when I get back, I do spend a lot of time reading, at least, they say I do."

"I think we all are at the moment and we should take a break, I won't go home back to the Dursleys even though I know your parents would let me join them for the holidays but I don't want to intrude on your family moment, Allison," Harry thought aloud.

"Oh come on, Harry, you said you know they'd welcome you with open arms and I'm sure they would even prepare a room for you!" She pleaded.

"Please don't argue with me on this, Allison, I'm not ready for that yet," Harry said with a tone that was moderately even yet his eyes betrayed his emotions. Allison met his eyes and instantly understood. She nodded and dropped the subject.

"If you need us, just write to us alright?" Hermione told him.

"Of course I will, you two are my friends, if I find anything here, I'll let you guys know," Harry answered quietly. It was so quiet in their empty room that one could hear a bubble pop if they listened enough. "Look, I appreciate it, I'm glad your parents are willing to accomodate me but this is a year that means something to me even if it seems like I've already been talked to about it to help put it behind me. This is the only year I'll stay here, I promise."

 **oOoOo**

They didn't bring up the topic again as promised and so they began to enjoy the final week before the holidays would begin and the majority of Hogwarts would leave. The Weasley twins had bewitched snowballs to bounce off the back of Professor Quirrell's turbans which was admittedly not nice but the man didn't even try and stop it nor did he punish them. He overheard Ron telling Seamus that he and his brothers would stay as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley would be travelling to Romania to visit another brother of his, Charlie. There were only a few of each student from each house that would be staying for the holidays which would mean that the castle would be eerily empty in a few days. For Slytherin it looked like Tracy Davis would be staying as well, though he wasn't sure why. Surely her situation wasn't the same as his but maybe he was judging to early, still, she was best friends with Daphne Greengrass, anyone could tell that, so why not go home?

The second last day arrived and Harry couldn't wait for things to finish. He finished his assignments quickly and left. The speed with which he had left the final Potions class before the holidays surprised even Snape. How could any student finish a potion in a third of the time when instructions both on the board and in their books say otherwise? Did he read ahead? Was he an innate genius? These were the questions that went through his mind and similar ones sometimes occupied the minds of the other professors.

He wandered the castle for a while just gathering his thoughts and looking around, he never really appreciated the castle decorations and other additions in the months since arriving but maybe there were secrets to be found? A while before classes were up, he headed back to the dungeon classroom so that he could meet up with Hermione then they would meet up with Allison. As he did, he heard Ron asking Hagrid if he wanted help. Harry waited just by the entrance of the corridor that was blocked by Hagrid and the giant fur tree.

Draco then insulted Ron for his family's financial situation. Snape's voice was heard beyond the tree and the professor took five points from Gryffindor for fighting. Draco and Crabbe and Goyle pushed passed the tree and walked into view. Harry kept his head down while Draco and his goons walked by him, laughing at Weasley and the Gryffindors. Several moments later, Harry then cast the dancing-spell "Tarantallegra" at Draco. The blond boy started dancing to his embarrassment and when he tried to cancel the spell his wand flew from his hands. "You idiots! Do something!" There were still students walking about and started laughing at Draco's sudden dancing. Hagrid with his tree and Ron and Hermione walked into view where they saw it. Ron laughed hard and it seemed like the noise attracted Snape's attention who immediately cancelled the spell and Draco huffed and tried to regain what dignity he currently had at the moment, though it was so obvious that he had been affected by the spectacle by his reddening ears. Snape went back in the direction he had come from since he couldn't figure out who had cast the spell and shook his head.

"I don't know who did that but I want to thank them!" Ron exclaimed with joy on his face.

Hermione then saw Harry standing by the corridor entrance and noticed him putting his wand back in his pocket. She narrowed her eyes at him but her face was otherwise struggling to contain a smile. "Let's go to the Great Hall, Hagrid said it looked great."

Ron noticed Hermione talking to Harry who was looking at where Draco had just been and looked angry and confused at the same time. They made eye contact for a second and there was a twitch in Harry's blank face and Ron could have sworn he saw something else for a split second before it disappeared.

 **oOoOo**

For the days until Christmas, Harry was rarely seen and if he was, he was either in the Great Hall for breakfast, lunch, and dinner or else it was in the library where he was seen reading books that had no relation to any classes that a first year would be taking. Tracy Davis, for whatever reason, started trying to get his attention. Harry guessed she was just bored so he ignored her, he would not be a person's play thing.

She was starting to be relentless just like Allison was, at first she would leave him alone after a while but she was staying longer and longer around him and it was getting harder to ignore her.

In the early afternoon of Christmas Eve, Harry finally responded.

"You study so much, are you sure you're not a Ravenclaw? Seriously I think you study even more than that Ravenclaw friend of yours or any Ravenclaw for that matter," Tracy Davis joked as Harry turned another page in a book "Practical Applications of Runes" but then he sighed. He shut the book with a snap which actually made the girl jump.

"What is it, Ms. Davis? Months ago you told me to stay away and I have, what else do you want now?" Harry asked staring at her dead in the eyes. She looked a bit shaken at the emptiness of his own. "You even reacted as if someone just killed your cat in front of you the last time."

"H-Hey, I just said stay away from Daphne, not me, we could have gotten together if you wanted," Tracy Davis looked like she didn't believe her own words as she said them.

"That was never my intention with Ms. Greengrass, now if you'll be kind enough to let me get back to my reading."

"Are you serious? Do you have nothing else to do but read? The only thing people really know about you now is that you're part of the Quidditch team, you're the top student, and you spend all your time either in the Great Hall or in the library with your two friends and you're almost never in the dormitory."

"I may be boring but I do think magic is fascinating, if I can maximize my knowledge of magic while I'm here, then it'll be worth it in spite of the people here."

"That didn't really answer my question though," Tracy whined from across the table that they were sitting at.

He felt like he was going to get a headache. "It does and it doesn't, I exercise sometimes."

"Everyone knows about that, some people wake up just as early as you do you know."

"Then you know everything there is to know about me."

"You're lying."

"Prove it."

"I can't though," she whined.

"Exactly."

"But you weren't even making a point, you're just ignoring me!" Madam Pince made a shushing noise at her.

"..." Harry flipped a page over, jotting notes down. Tracy Davis growled in frustration. "Why are you here, Ms. Davis? Surely as a friend of Ms. Greengrass you'd be going home too to be around her?"

Tracy Davis smiled a little bit, "If you must know I'm only a halfblood and Ms. Greengrass, due to her status as a pureblood and as the future Head of House Greengrass, has several obligations to which she must attend to and will keep her too busy even for me, also my parents said they're too busy to take care of me right now so I had to stay."

"Oh how interesting, please tell me more," Harry said completely uninterested.

"The House of Greengrass is an Ancient and Noble house and that means there are rules they must follow and things they must do if they wish to maintain their image such as attending fancy balls which is one of the more popular things that they do."

"I really don't care."

"Hey, you said to tell you more. Fine, tell me something interesting about your family."

Harry sighed and thought back to one of the times he was at Gringotts. "Seven centuries ago, the heads of house of the Greengrass family and Potter family had a minor dispute about a pig."

Tracy Davis stared blankly at Harry and began to laugh really hard so she buried her head in her arms to keep too much noise from coming out. A minute later and Harry had returned to studying the Runes book as the girl across from him lost her mind to something stupid.

"A-are you seri-serious?" Tracy wheezed. "You didn't j-just make that up?"

"Of course not, I may not say much about myself but I don't lie about something that minor."

"Oh I have got to tell Daphne this when she gets back!"

"Why? Surely she already knows?" Page flip.

"Anyone of an Ancient and or Noble House is required to learn of the other houses whether they be enemies or allies and a basic history of how they came to be such a House but the other minor stuff is deemed useless so it is never taught to the children." Scratch of a quill on parchment.

"You wanted me to stay away from Ms. Greengrass yet you're telling me a lot that has to do with her."

"I'm bored and you said you don't care, you're also talking to me finally so I may as well since I have nothing better to do."

"You could study."

"I'm doing fine in class, I don't need to study during our break."

"Why would Ms. Greengrass even care? It's not like it affects her anyways, that our families had a conflict over a pig."

"She is still a person you know."

"I know she is."

"Okay." Tracy went silent, prompting Harry to look up from his textbook. She looked deep in thought. "Where were you on Halloween?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Harry refused to stiffen up. But now he was really paying attention. He knew Tracy Davis, Daphne Greengrass, and Draco Malfoy all saw him leave and return, but who would know about the troll? There were fortunately no rumours linking him to the troll so he had put it out of his mind.

"Of course you do, you disappeared when the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors headed up to their towers because of the troll, so where did you go? What did you do?"

"I went to use the bathroom, what else would I have done?"

"I didn't want to know that." Tracy said with a look of revulsion.

"Hey, you asked."

"I'm going now, I imagine you'll be at the Great Hall for dinner?" She shook her head and got up to leave.

"When do I miss a meal?" Harry asked rhetorically. Tracy Davis finally left and Harry almost immediately missed her company. 'Strange, that was enjoyable but strange.

Later that day, he finally left the library and waved to Madam Pince who nodded back. 'People don't give Madam Pince enough credit, then again, young children usually hate being quiet.' She once told him of his parents, James and Lily Potter and how they would often study together at the same table he had sat at. She was one of the few people at the castle who didn't look at Harry with hatred or fear just for his placement in Slytherin and so he respected her for that.

True to his routine, Harry showed up at the Great Hall for dinner that evening and sat down at the single table that the professors decided was easier rather than having all House tables out with the few people still there sitting alone. To the surprise of pretty much everyone there, Harry responded to Tracy Davis' benign questions and general conversation though he still said little of anything else.

Later that night as curfew struck, Tracy asked one more question before they went to their separate rooms. "Are we friends now?"

"Do you think we are?" Harry asked . She considered his response and shrugged and they parted ways.

The next morning at the foot of his bed was a small pile of presents. Harry got up and examined them. There was a letter from Allison along with a box of chocolate frogs and a book about Quidditch, a moderately thick book from Hermione called "Impossible Feats of Magic Through Time" and then some kind of cloak with a note on it that simply read: "Your father left this in my possession before he died. It is time it was returned to you. Use it well. A Very Merry Christmas to you."

'Who would send me a present without naming themselves?" Harry stared at the package with eyes narrowed in suspicion. Harry thought of who may have a connection to him. 'I know almost no one in this world. People I have met and have talked to personally have been Ollivander, a few shop clerks, and the goblins at Gringotts… The professors and some students here and there but that's it. Besides, so many people are suspicious of me because of Slytherin house so who would send this to me?'

He examined it and found thousands upon thousands of impossibly tiny runes stitched into the cloak itself and several powerful compulsion and tracking charms as well as something far more sinister. He couldn't just put them on something else like he did with those spells that had been affecting the Taylors but he could try destroying them outright. The cloak itself seemed to be a very incredible magical item and he did not wish to destroy it.

"I have this magical energy that has absorbed spells in the past, it even stopped Quirrell's jinx… If I raise it like I did then, could I absorb the energy of these spells? I only ever moved those spells from the Taylor house to Hagrid because I figured those minor spells would have no effect on a half-giant or at the very least it would only tickle the man. It's almost ironic, I think, I have survived death twice yet now I may be causing it to myself." Harry gathered his magic around himself then reached out to the spells on the cloak.

As it was before with the Taylors house, the spells fought to reattach themselves, the unknown sinister spell fought the hardest of them all. Harry willed his energy to take out the 'break the will' of the compulsion and tracking spells which it did with a small flash of light accompanied by a snapping sound. Harry started to feel the intentions of the sinister spell that he held at a distance. It wasn't like the compulsion charms as it would actively alter the mind in some fashion and Harry couldn't afford to have that happen, he didn't think anyone could. Harry compressed the spell and it started to crack and scream. Breaking it more and more the spell fought now to attach itself to him and not the cloak. It emitted a final piercing screech that cracked the mirror in his room before the spell was crushed into pieces and it faded. The spell's energy no longer felt sinister, it just was. Harry then allowed the magical energy he had acquired from those spells and took it for himself, growing his already formidable energy pool.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he examined the cloak more carefully now and found several ancient runes that related to sight, to light. It was as if the cloak was meant to hide itself. 'Could it be?' Harry threw the cloak on and stepped in front of a mirror and saw nothing but his head. 'It really is an invisibility cloak! There are so many more runes than I know about on this thing, I wonder if I would ever be able to decipher them all.'

Harry folded the cloak up and placed it in his trunk before taking Hermione's book to the Slytherin common room.

"Merry Christmas," Tracy called from a chair by the fire. Noticing the book tucked under Harry's arm, she sighed and exasperatedly said, "Seriously? Even on Christmas? Do you never stop reading?"

"I told you, I like learning more about magic, and Merry Christmas to you too I suppose," Harry explained again.

"Fine, so what's it about?" she asked as she bit down on a chocolate frog. Harry showed her the title of the book.

"Oh I see."

For an hour, Harry read about various incredible magical feats that advanced magical society little by little. Then he came across Dumbledore. Various developments in magic such as his works in spell casting and spell theory were thanks to the elder wizard as well as his work in alchemy. 'Alchemy?' Harry thought. 'Maybe I should search for things related to alchemy that will lead me to whatever Dumbledore is hiding in the castle but would he really be that… obvious?'

"Dumbledore again?" Tracy cried out. "Bah!"

"What about him?"

"It's nothing, I just keep getting his chocolate frog card with these things, you want it?" she asked holding the card up showing a blank space with Dumbledore's name written underneath it.

"No, it's not like there's anything important about a card with a magic portrait," Harry dismissed.

"Maybe it's not important but it does give a brief description of the witch or wizard whose name is on the card," she told him.

"Just throw it out, I'm going to go to the library," Harry said.

"You're boring, even if Daphne wanted to see you, she would be repulsed by how much time you spend in books," Tracy told him as he went back to his room.

"There's nothing wrong with books," Harry said over his shoulder.

"No, I know, but come on live a little!" Tracy called.

A short while later, Harry arrived at the library and greeted Madam Pince who did the same in return. Looking around Harry found a small section about Alchemy and found a book on the basics. "Basics of Alchemy"

It seemed like it was a relatively old book so Harry took extra care to not fold its pages.

"While Dumbledore has made several incredible discoveries in various branches of magic including the branch of magic known as Alchemy in recent history, there is no one quite as renowned as Nicolas Flamel who is the only known maker of the legendary artifact known as the Philosopher's Stone." Harry celebrated, cheering in his mind. 'I found it! Yes! Thank you Hermione! At least, I think I did.'

"The Philosopher's Stone has been theorized to be able to turn basic metals into gold as well as create the elixir of life which heals any illnesses and prolong a person's life. More about the Philosopher's Stone will be found in section 6."

Harry snapped the book shut. 'That has to be what Dumbledore is hiding! But why would it be here? Clearly someone is after it or else it would have remained in the vault that Hagrid took it out of... Quirrell is the most obvious suspect but how are we supposed to prove it? Even if I confronted him about it, surely he would just lie and report to the other professors and who knows what they would do to me? And since Dumbledore is here there's no way he would try and steal it… right? I'll send a letter to Hermione and Allison, maybe they will know what to do, or at the very least we can think of something to do when they get back.'

Harry finally didn't feel the need to read, he put the alchemy book back where he had found it and left to wander the castle halls. Maybe he would find some interesting items hidden or lost by Hogwarts students over the years, though he imagined that it wasn't going to be that easy, the caretaker, Argus Filch was very obsessed with his cat Mrs. Norris and making sure nothing was out of place and that all things were clean.

The chill in the castle was starting to get to him and Harry decided to return to the common room to warm up.

 **oOoOo**

Later that night in a far off room with a full-length gilded mirror was Albus Dumbledore, waiting with impatience, tapping a foot incessantly and shivering from the cold. "Where is Harry? He should've thought about coming to this room ever since I gave him the cloak! Does he know it's me? That can't be possible, the bastard is only eleven!"

Dumbledore would be fruitlessly waiting for Harry Potter in that room for another three nights.

 **oOoOo**

As Harry went to bed that Christmas night, he thought about his parents, about the life he wish he could've had as he sometimes did. He was grateful for being born as well as their sacrifice that allowed him to live and escape the Dark Lord. He was grateful that because of them, he found true friends in Hermione, Allison, Hedwig, and Hagrid. He wondered who else he would be able to meet besides Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass thanks to Lily and James Potter.

"Merry Christmas... mum and dad, thank you.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hope you enjoyed that. Please leave a review.**_

 _ **Edit: I was thinking about this chapter and realized I wanted to add one more thing at the end. I hope you liked it. As for the next chapter, that will come some time around September, I have some real life stuff to figure out that'll keep me occupied for the whole month of August.**_


	11. Relay

_**A/N: Sorry for the wait, a bunch of stuff came up and then classes started up again so I broke my promise of uploading this in September... sorry about that. Thank you to all who are reading this and to those who are leaving reviews.**_

 _ **PascalDragon: I'm glad I've been able to keep your interest, yes Astoria will be a part of the story but I'm not sure how I would write her in yet, though that will be quite some time from now**_

 _ **plums: I'm sorry about that but I didn't plan for a full split from canon for quite a few years (in story time, though I guess real time too considering my story updating frequency) Some things will be the same but the sequence of events or additional scenes may be added just based on how I feel like the characters will react.**_

"Spoken dialogue or signs"

'Thought'

 _flashback or quotes_

 **"flashback spoken dialogue"**

 **'flashback thought'**

* * *

 **Relay**

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade and the large crowd of returning Hogwarts students slowly piled out and waited for the magical carts that would transport them back to the lit up castle. A few of the first years still stared up at the castle in awe but the rest just conversed among their own groups of friends as it was with the older students. A short while later and the Great Hall was filled back to maximum capacity as the student body took their seats at their respective house tables, many greeting the few who stayed behind, except for Harry of course, though Hermione and Allison gave a friendly wave from their tables. He also made eye contact with Ron who just had an inquisitive look upon his face, as if he was trying to see through the black-haired boy. Ron then shook himself and sat down and resumed his normally boisterous chatter with Seamus and Dean.

'Interesting,' Harry thought. Daphne Greengrass did sit by Tracy Davis as expected but this time she didn't even nod, yet somehow Tracy was unfazed. 'She did say Daphne had responsibilities toward her family name, maybe this is part of it.'

And so the usual Hogwarts atmosphere resumed itself and Harry sat, eating alone silently. Though he would've been perfectly accepting of others who talked to him, he wouldn't bother to try to break the status quo completely, at least not yet. And it seemed like others were willing to do the same, whether they were conscious of that idea or not.

The day after when classes had finished, Harry had met with Hermione and Allison in the empty classroom they'd met in a few times before. "I learned who Nicolas Flamel is, thanks to the book you sent me over the holidays, Hermione. Also I may have a new acquaintance in fellow Slytherin Tracy Davis who badgered me constantly, but we did 'communicate' a little bit."

"So who is it? Did you read that book Hermione?" Allison asked.

"I did not, though I was planning to borrow it from Harry when he wasn't reading it," Hermione explained, "I guess I'm glad I found that book for you because now we have a lead." They turned back to Harry who continued.

"Dumbledore has dabbled in many fields of magic and also worked with Nicolas Flamel in alchemy, Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone which heals, turns metals to gold, and prolongs life."

"That sounds impossible, but many people thing magic is impossible, I wonder what a long life with vast amounts of wealth would be like?" Allison wondered aloud.

"Most likely very lonely, if you lived forever, you would outlive all of your loved ones and then you would be all alone, surely that would be a torturous existence," Hermione somberly said in response.

"Though it does depend on the person who has that kind of life, I can't imagine any of us would enjoy it though," Harry replied.

"If I had you two and our families together, I think we'd be fine, at least for a while," Allison said hopefully.

Harry said nothing at this but Hermione agreed with her. "So what should we do about the Philosopher's Stone? If that is indeed what's being guarded by the professors and Dumbledore himself?" He asked, bringing the topic back to what they'd initially come to discuss.

"Well, if the Stone hasn't been placed into the area under Fluffy yet then it would be pointless to go down there right now, and we don't even know how to get passed it yet," Allison pointed out, "We should just keep watch on Quirrell, wait until he makes a move before we try to get at it, or at least find out if he's actually trying to get it first before doing something for nothing."

"You're right, well besides that I didn't really find anything else out during the holidays, just some fun facts about alchemy. It's an ancient art and it isn't as practiced as it used to be and it's also rarely taught at Hogwarts so people don't even know about it nowadays. Muggles attempted it and have made a few things with it such as gunpowder with the Chinese alchemists as they were seeking to create the elixir of life but I'm thinking the reason they never really got anywhere far is because they didn't have the magical touch that we do, though the study of Alchemy was like the precursor to chemistry so the Muggles have come a long way since centuries ago," Harry told them, Allison and Hermione listening raptly. "However, even with the magical touch, magical alchemists have only really managed to figure out how to transmute and manipulate the elements and things and since Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker, there must be something that only he knows and figured out that is far beyond anything anyone has ever thought of in order to create the Philosopher's Stone, though they are certainly still trying."

"Maybe the reason alchemy is rare even in the magical world is not only because of the lack of it being taught but also because our magic alone can be used to do basically what alchemy does, though with less effort," Hermione suggested.

"It seems like the reason alchemy isn't so easy is not only due to the complexity but maybe because people are ignoring something obvious even with this power at our fingertips," Allison added. "Though if it was obvious, you'd think it would've been discovered already."

 _ **oOoOo**_

 _ **Slytherin House - Girls' Dormitory - Daphne Greengrass' Room**_

"Daphne, I get it, your status as a future head of the Greengrass family makes you want to rip your head off, but it's not like you have to shut yourself off from everyone, at the very least, you can always be open with me!" Tracy quietly pleaded to her best friend to stop shutting out everything for the twentieth time since classes resumed. Daphne was so still, at a glance it would seem as if she were a statue and not a living and breathing eleven year old girl. The only noticeable movements she made were her eyes blinking and her chest rising and falling as she breathed and the turning of the pages of one of her class books that she was studiously reading.

Daphne took a deep breath and sighed, turning to look at her best and only friend, she dropped her mask and showed the only emotion she had shown since . "You may be right, Tracy, but if I shut everything out then I also shut out the feelings that my predetermined life brings me, you know this, you know why I've been like this since we were eight."

Tracy balled her hands up into fists, shaking. Clenching and unclenching her hands, she forced herself to calm down. "By the way, there's something I learned about Potter during the holidays."

No response.

"A long time ago, your's and Potter's families had problems with each other because of something that happened with a pig."

A twitch.

"Did you know about that? I wonder what that was all about, you know? What is it about a pig that would cause two families to fly at each others throats?" Tracy wondered aloud, hoping to get a rise of any kind out of her stone-faced friend. Eventually she resolved to stay as silent as her friend.

The effort lasted for all of a week which was pretty impressive considering how energetic and talkative Tracy normally was and so she resolved to accomplish something else, though she wasn't sure if it was at all possible considering how they were.

 _ **oOoOo**_

Something was different about the students of Hogwarts and no one was quite sure what it was, every other student analyzing the others to see if anything stood out among the masses. Harry Potter, the usual suspect, was no different from his usual blank self. The members of each Quidditch team were also no different and the same went for the most famous or infamous members of other houses. It was such a small difference but this feeling of change yet unknowing of what it was drove the rumour-driven castle mad. Yet it was plain for very specific individuals to see.

'Tracy Davis and Daphne Greengrass sitting by Harry? Why?' were the words that Hermione and Allison were thinking when they glanced toward the Slytherin table. They, along with Harry and Tracy, were surprised that no one realized the one thing that changed was the Slytherin table seating dynamic. Such obvious things throughout the year so far yet somehow no one noticed them.

'How?' Harry thought baffled.

Harry said nothing. Tracy kept speaking about things to Daphne who, as one could expect, said nothing. Though, as she ate, Daphne was wondering what Tracy was up to. Normally she would have sat them at their usual place promptly and without trouble and Daphne followed along as usual but this time, at his usual seating.

Tracy didn't say anything about the why behind any of this. 'Maybe you just can't force good things to happen... or can you?'

 _ **oOoOo**_

The next few weeks was monotonous. Morning exercise, schoolwork, Quidditch practice. Marcus Flint still remembered what Harry had done during the first match and continued to practice in their rough way in preparation for their match against Ravenclaw later on in February. The logic behind this was that the Ravenclaw team was incredibly skilled, even more so than Gryffindor was and they had an edge over their team in that their seeker, a second year student Cho Chang, was much less distractible and not as easily shaken as the Gryffindor's seeker Calum as well as being very comfortable with flying. In the Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw match, she overpowered the other seeker and quickly caught the snitch within fifteen minutes with the Hufflepuff seeker having never even seen the snitch in the first place with the final score being 10 to 180.

Marcus Flint was really smug a short few days before their next match. "Listen up, Professor Snape's specifically requested to referee our match against Ravenclaw, that means we can pull off the small stuff right in front of him and we'll not be penalized for that, he favours Slytherin as you all know so we're in luck."

The day of the Slytherin vs Ravenclaw match, Harry was anxious to get flying for the game, he was hoping Cho Chang could give him a challenge. When the game started, the Slytherins were quite brutal in their play but the Ravenclaws were no pushovers either. Though the Slytherin chasers were constantly outplayed, the way they fought back in return caused the Ravenclaw chasers to not always throw the quaffle accurately. The Ravenclaw beaters were in better condition though and fought back as often as they could against the Slytherin beaters. With Snape refereeing, the game went slowly but steadily like this for an hour and a half with neither side scoring too many points in succession, though Ravenclaw was slowly starting to pull ahead. The reason neither Harry nor Cho Chang had found the snitch yet was due to the sky being darkened by total cloud wasn't raining but it sure felt like it would be, and therefore there was no light to give any hint of a reflection off of the golden snitch.

Flint even shouted at Harry. "Potter, hurry up and find the snitch before Chang flies into it and swallows the damn thing by accident!" Well that would've certainly been a sight to see in spite of the disgusting image that was put into his mind. It was rough, though. Because of Harry's performance in the Gryffindor match, the Ravenclaw beaters had spent every spare second hitting the bludgers towards him and he certainly had quite a few bruises now. Finally, two hours after the start of the game it seemed like everyone was getting a lucky break because some clouds had thinned out slightly allowing a few muted rays of sunlight to shine down upon the area. The score was now 80 to 110 but it was still in favour of the Ravenclaws and the crowd was getting antsy, especially the Slytherin students, at this point anyone could win. At first everyone was cheering for the Ravenclaws and was hoping that Slytherin would finally lose a match for the first time in years but then, of course, they weren't too far behind yet.

"That snitch is mine, Potter! Like with the Hufflepuffs, you won't even get to see it!" Cho Chang taunted Harry from atop her Comet 260 broom and sped off, looking for any hint of the golden ball with the help of the golden rays from above. It was quite the match but it didn't end with anyone on the edge of their seats either because Harry flew into the snitch by accident and Cho Chang only realized that he had caught the winged gold ball when Lee Jordan announced his team's victory. "Potter's caught the Snitch," Lee Jordan announced to everyone. "Slytherin has won 250 to 120!" Slytherin house exploded with cheers while the students of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw only gave mild applause, dejected that the "dark house" won yet another game.

After that, for a month nothing else interesting happened besides the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff Quidditch match which meant that even the usual gossip wasn't happening, no new couple that no one thought would happen or anything like that. Hermione and Allison kept sitting by and talking to Harry in spite of some of the professors clearly expressing their disapproval at two hard working and intelligent students hanging around the Potter turned Slytherin (or Potter turned dark wizard traitor) In the Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff match, their seeker Calum had been at about even pace with the Hufflepuff seeker and so, due to their equal skill or lack thereof, the game lasted for a fourth of the whole day with both sides excluding the keepers sustaining injuries acquired mostly by the exchanged bludgers, the points being far apart at 290 to 170 before the snitch was caught and after, 440 to 170 in favour of Gryffindor, no one really cheered for either side at that point, just for the fact that it was finally over.

Harry, Hermione, and Allison weren't really focusing on the match, but they did keep an eye on Professor Quirrell who was watching the entire match looking bored, wearing the usual turban and purple robes. He didn't even glance over at Harry once. 'Well it's not like he's going to be entirely focused on me, why would he be? It's not like he knows that I know... right?'

But something did finally change not soon after that last Quidditch match. It seemed like Quirrell was stuttering more than ever, paler, thinner. Sometimes he wouldn't even show up to the Great Hall at night. He wasn't sure what and Hermione and Allison weren't sure either even though they kept an eye on him whenever they could, though he was muttering to himself a lot more, even when he wasn't alone.

"I'm worried, if Quirrell is going to go for the Stone, why hasn't he? He seems like he's ready to outright yell that he's going for it and blasting his way passed Fluffy and through whatever else is beneath the cerberus," Hermione whispered to them during a study session in the library.

Harry threw up a wall of silence, just in case anyone was nearby. "Maybe we should try to go for the Stone tonight? Find it and return it to Nicolas Flamel without Quirrell knowing or we break it and that way no one will have the method to prolong their life anymore. Also Quirrell won't be able to run off with it when he finally does break, you're right, he does seem close to it."

"Would we be able to? Even if we got passed Fluffy, who knows what other kinds of challenges are down there? Surely the professors would have added their own spells, their own magical defenses and special skills to the mix. You could try blasting through it all if you tried, Harry, but they surely have alarms or some kind of system to alert them to anyone breaking in," Allison asked.

"All of this research and snooping around would've been for nothing if we didn't at least attempt it," Harry reminded them. "So? What should we do?"

"Alright, but how would we get around the castle? The prefects have rounds and even the professors themselves are out and about." Allison posed yet another problem.

"Harry, didn't you turn us invisible back during Halloween? You can just do that again, right?" Hermione said in response.

"I could, but there's something I completely forgot about after I found out about Nicolas Flamel. When I got your presents, there was also another package that I received. It had no name and just said that it was originally my father's but there was also a dark spell that I'm pretty sure it was meant to change me, along with several tracking and compulsion charms placed upon the cloak. I had to completely break those spells before the cloak was safe," Harry told them seriously. "Whoever sent this invisibility cloak clearly meant to control me but now I'm wondering if they realize what I did, it has been a couple months since then and nothing new has happened so either they're still watching me and biding their time before they act again or they just haven't noticed. As for why I'm mentioning this now is because, as Allison said, the professors would have added their own little touches to the defenses for the Stone, I think a basic disillusionment spell could be broken by them but this cloak... It had countless numbers of runes etched into every fiber, every little stitch that made the thing. I feel like this would probably be able to get through without being detected by any basic spells, not that I've tried using it at all but it's probably better than anything else available to us."

"Okay, so we have the cloak, but there's still the whole thing about getting passed Fluffy, clearly Hagrid knows about it since he got it from that Greek person. We could ask him about how to get passed it," Allison suggested.

"Though he does seem to be against telling us or anyone anything related to the Stone, we would have to trip him up in order to get him to spill his secrets, I think that will probably be the easiest part of this whole plan," Hermione added. "Speaking of Hagrid..." She turned around and saw Hagrid shuffling out of the library with something hidden behind his back. "What do you think that's about?"

"I'll go check," Allison replied, and went off to the aisle of shelves that Hagrid had been walking from. She'd seen him the whole time but now she was curious. Harry had been watching as well. Not a minute later and she was back. "He was in the section about dragons, but why would he be hiding a book about dragons? We haven't visited him in over a month, this might be our chance, are we still going for the Stone tonight? Let's figure this out before we head down there at the very least."

"Alright, let's do that," Harry and Hermione agreed.

 _ **oOoOo**_

"Oh hey, what are you three doing here?" Hagrid said, sweaty and somewhat frantic.

"Hi Hagrid, we haven't visited in a while, we were hoping it was alright to come by," Allison said cheerfully. She actually was genuinely happy to see the man, he was friendly and loved animals and she loved talking to him about that.

"It's, er, it's not a good time right now, could you all come back later?" Hagrid glanced back into his house before looking back at them.

"Please? Hagrid? We just want to talk and hang around with you, what are you busy with?"

Hagrid seemed to be struggling with himself before he sighed. "Alright, alright, hurry up then." He quickly closed the door behind them.

The trio reeled back the moment they got inside because it was incredibly hot. Not only was it already warm outside but Hagrid had a huge fire going. "What did you all want to talk about?"

"Well for one thing, is that an egg underneath your kettle?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, it's a dragon egg, won it off of some cloaked fellow while I was at the village, having drinks and playing cards, I got this book from the library about how to care for it, make it hatch. I'm so glad that I met that man, I've always wanted a dragon for myself, you know?" Hagrid said whistling, stoking the fire.

Hearing the last sentence put Harry on edge and he frowned. "That's awesome Hagrid, but aren't breeding dragons illegal?" Hagrid didn't seem to hear Harry. "What did he look like?"

"No idea, he wouldn't take his cloak off." More worry.

"Say Hagrid?" Hermione asked. Hagrid turned to look at them. "Dumbledore trusts you, right? That must mean you know a lot about what happens around Hogwarts right? That's a very important job!" Harry was impressed and Allison stared at her with disbelief. Hagrid didn't notice any of that and puffed up with pride. "Could you tell us who helped guard _whatever_ it is in the Third Floor corridor? We're just curious about who else Dumbledore trusted besides you and it's not like we can do anything about it."

"Well I suppose there's no harm in that. The professor borrowed Fluffy from me then Professors' Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, and Professor Quirrell provided their own enchantments and defenses. Oh, Dumbledore himself personally added something to that and Professor Snape as well, but that's all I know, I don't know what they did so don't try to ask, alright?"

"Absolutely!" Hermione beamed. They now had a few ideas about a few of the defenses that might be available.

"When this man gave you that egg, what did you two talk about?" Harry asked, he had to figure it out. Hagrid, a lover of great creatures of all kinds and especially wanted a dragon, just happened to run into someone who had a dragon egg with him? .

"Ah, well he asked me what I did and I told him I was the gamekeeper here at Hogwarts so then he asked me what kind of creatures I took to and... I can't really remember because he kept buying me drinks but yeah, so I mentioned I'd always wanted a dragon and he said he had an egg and that we could play for it but that he wouldn't give it to me unless he was sure I could handle it so I told him 'Well after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy'," Hagrid spilled to them with no worry about any of this. But, in spite of the stifling heat in Hagrid's hut, Harry, Hermione, and Allison felt cold to the core.

"D-did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Allison asked, worry clear in her voice, but Hagrid didn't notice, he kept on talking.

"Well yeah, how many times do you hear about a three-headed dog even at Hogwarts? So I told him about Fluffy and how I got him and that it's so easy to calm him down, just play a bit of music and he'll go straight off to sleep-." Hagrid looked horrified. "I shouldn't have told you that, I should not have told you that." All of them looked horrified. "You must not tell anyone, especially Dumbledore, that I told you that alright, I shouldn't have said anything I said too much, you all must leave now, go back to your dorms, have lunch, whatever, just don't let anyone know what I told you today!" Hagrid rushed them out of his hut and slammed the door behind them.

Harry threw up another wall of silence. "That is most likely Quirrell, what kind of coincidence is it that Hagrid, always wanting a dragon, just happens to run into some person at Hogsmeade with a dragon egg? We can't take any more chances, we definitely have to try to get at that Stone now. Quirrell is the only professor at Hogwarts that's panicking about something, what could anyone be worrying about? Especially as a 'simple' professor at Hogwarts? Voldemort is gone and it's a time of relative peace."

"Speaking of which, that was quite the acting there, Hermione, though I feel like it wouldn't have taken that much to convince Hagrid to speak, we didn't even really have to trip him up like we thought initially," Allison said with a shaky laugh. Hermione beamed in return.

"So, what's the plan? We know who did what now and we just have to ready ourselves," Harry asked as they walked on the grassy lawn in between Hagrid's hut and the Hogwarts castle.

"You definitely need to get your cloak first, we'll meet up in that empty classroom, hide underneath and then head to the third floor corridor," Hermione spoke quickly, figuring this out aloud.

"We also need to get something that can play music, or do you think we could try singing to Fluffy?" Allison added.

"We could try if we can't find anything, but they play music around Hogwarts sometimes, right? Surely there's a place where instruments are kept, after all, they keep old brooms around," Hermione sped up, Harry and Allison also picking up the pace, urgency in their hearts.

"Okay, I'll meet you guys in the empty classroom in thirty minutes, make sure no one thinks you're up to anything, alright?" Harry whispered to them and almost ran off. He kept repeating to himself to keep calm as he got closer to the Slytherin dungeons. As he entered the common room, he noticed that there were a few older students studying, some were crying, others were just lying face first on the floor and Tracy was sitting, flipping through a book at one of the tables with a far off look. Tracy was also alone which was a surprise considering how often they were around each other. He seriously hoped she didn't have anything to ask or that she wouldn't bother him too much. 'She still keeps making me sit with her and Daphne at every meal, unless I'm sitting with Hermione and Allison at the Gryffindor or Ravenclaw tables, why?'

"Hey Potter, Daphne went to bed early," Tracy had noticed him and her mood brightened considerably and she practically bounced over.

'Early? It's not even time for dinner yet, that's earlier than early,' Harry thought curiously. "And?"

"Well I figured that we could study together, I may as well do that now and you're not busy, right?"

'If I say I'm also going to bed early, she'll probably be suspicious.' Harry cursed his luck. "If you want, I was just going to send a letter off then head back to the library so you can come along if you want."

"Great!" Tracy cheered and ran to get her books.

'Studying? Now? Just because she's bored? What's going on with Daphne?' Harry went to his room to grab the cloak and stuffed it into his bag. He had to send a letter to Hermione and Allison telling them what happened so he had to call Hedwig. Back when Hedwig had come to him out of the blue, he was unsure why, but then he noticed a pattern. Whenever he thought about Hedwig or wanted to just sit with her, she would come flying to him not long after. He wasn't sure if it was a normal thing that happened with magical pets or partners. Harry quickly wrote a note and kept it ready in his pocket.

As Tracy followed Harry into the Entrance Hall, Hedwig came gliding down to him. "Go to Allison and Hermione," he whispered to her, passing the note along and the snowy owl held it tight within her talons.

As she flew off, Tracy told Harry, "Your owl is gorgeous, does she always come to you? My family's owl never arrives without a letter from my parents and the same goes with me to them."

'So maybe it's only unique to me?' Harry wondered. He didn't answer her question and kept walking in the direction of the library. As he entered, nodding to Madam Pince who smiled at him, Tracy took him by the arm and dragged him over to an occupied table. The table was occupied by Daphne.

"I thought you said Daphne went to bed early?" Harry asked suspiciously. Not only was he antsy to get to the Stone but now he wanted to get away from whatever situation he was being forced into by Tracy.

Clearly feigning ignorance, she said, "I don't know what you're talking about, who goes to bed this early in the day?"

"Tracy, I thought you were just going to the bathroom, why is Potter here?" Daphne asked blankly, glancing up only once at Tracy and Harry's approach.

"I just thought he would want to study with us, that's all," Tracy easily said with a smile.

"Ridiculous, he's the top of our year and if he studies with anyone then it would be with Miss Granger and Miss Taylor," she uttered in the same flat tone. "Why is he here?"

"I would like to know that too," Harry said just as flat as Daphne had spoken.

A twitch.

"Oh come on, we're all friends, we can study together without having to ask questions!" Tracy cheerfully said, quietly.

"We're not friends."

"I'm not his friend."

Another twitch.

'Wow, they are like two peas in a pod,' Tracy thought as they responded to her last comment. "You could try to be friends?"

"I don't want to be."

"That was never my intention either, Ms. Davis," Harry said.

Another twitch.

"There's nothing wrong with trying to be friends!"

"How about the letters I kept getting about harassing her and that I'd be in legal trouble if I kept doing so?"

Silence from Tracy.

Yet another twitch from Daphne.

Finally, Daphne spoke as they all just sat there in silence. "Those letters were to discourage any irrelevant person from trying to seek a relationship with any noble house heir as that subject is for any current noble house head to decide upon with other such families."

With Daphne revealing that information, Tracy then felt comfortable enough to speak again. "Then that means there's no problem! You can become friends, it's not like you're going to date, it's just impossible!" She felt triumphant, how else could they refute this?

Daphne didn't respond.

Harry didn't respond.

"I still don't want to be his friend."

'The ice of Daphne Greengrass, smiling yet shadowed, I still want to know what that's about, this is probably it but I still want to know more,' Harry thought. "Neither do I, but clearly she's being stubborn for some reason, may as well say yes so that Ms. Davis will stop with this."

A minute passed in silence. "Fine."

Tracy beaming widely said nothing.

"Can I go now?" Harry asked.

"Nope! You're still studying with us!" Tracy answered firmly, her sickeningly wide grin showing no sign of stopping.

Harry sighed. "Fine."

 ** _oOoOo_**

"It's a good thing you sent that letter to us, Harry, otherwise we would've been waiting here for hours," Hermione said with violin in her hand

"I hope that we don't have to sound good to make Fluffy fall asleep," Allison said worriedly, staring at the instrument in the other girl's hand.

"I could try floating it up so that it can't attack us," Harry suggested jokingly. Seeing their disbelief, he added, "I can make myself float if I focus hard enough but that's all I can do, of course, it's easier with the levitation spell."

"Okay, let's just see if this works before you get us killed with anything else Mr. All-Powerful," Allison said, rolling her eyes.

 _ **oOoOo**_

"It worked!" Hermione cheered. "It sounded terrible but it worked!" The giant three-headed dog called Fluffy was sound asleep as Hermione kept on "playing" the violin. Harry ran over and quickly forced the trapdoor open.

"I'll go in first, if I have to, I'll be able to catch you both," Harry uttered before jumping into the pitch black hole. A rush of air and Harry landed with a loud thump on something soft. "What is this?"

Allison jumped and landed beside him in the dark. The faint violin sounds kept coming as Hermione kept "playing" and jumped. The moment she stopped playing the violin, Fluffy had woken up but because it didn't smell anything but itself nor did it see anything, it lied down and waited. Hermione landed with a thump as well but it also caused her to throw the violin and the bow and it smashed against a wall, breaking.

"Well, I just realized what this is," Harry said.

"Devil's Snare," Allison said weakly.

"Hold on, hold on, I know a spell for this, they're weak to light and heat and..." Hermione waved her wand and said, "Incendio!" Flames flew forth from her wand and it caused the Devil's Snare to loosen its grip on all their bodies as it tried to hide away from the light and heat. Standing up and dusting themselves off, the flames from the fire-making spell showed a stone passageway, the only path that was available to them. The fire, in the damp environment, quickly went out and so the trio was engulfed in darkness once more. A short while ahead they noticed a lit room and...

"Do you hear that?" Allison said, straining her ears to hear.

"It sounds like... metal?" Hermione wondered, also straining to hear.

They entered the room and up above, there were hundreds upon hundreds of glittering winged... "Keys?" Harry wondered. They were all gold coloured with multi-coloured wings. "Are we supposed to use one of them to unlock the door?"

"Let's see if we can open it first, this is clearly Flitwick's enchantment," Allison said and crossed the room to try to open the door. She pulled but it didn't budge.

Hermione tried alohomora but it also did nothing.

"There are broomsticks, maybe we have to use one of these keys to unlock the door?" Harry said, walking over to the aforementioned brooms. The old school-issued brooms.

"But there are so many of them! How will we ever know which one to use?"

"Well..." Harry thought, "Maybe it requires a silver key like the handle?"

"No way, Professor Flitwick wouldn't make it that easy," Allison said looking up at the flying keys with apprehension.

"It's better than nothing, come on," Harry shrugged. He grabbed one of the brooms and kicked off, Hermione and Allison following behind not a minute after. Harry's eyes darted all over before finally settling on... a silver key! "There it is!" Harry said pointing. Hermione and Allison then saw the silver key too and they all went after it, Harry in the lead. Any keys in their way kept darting out of the way, just out of reach. The silver key was especially flighty and kept dodging their efforts way in advance. Eventually though, they all surrounded it and closed in on it, it sped towards Allison who reached out but it dodged and sped off towards Harry who did the same but Hermione closed in and roughly gripped the silver key in her hand. They all cheered but the key was struggling to get free and so Hermione dived, landed softly, and quickly unlocked the door before letting go, part of its left wing was rumpled from Hermione's grip but it was still fast and it disappeared in the multicoloured cloud of keys.

Adrenaline coursing through them all, they quickly entered the next room which was dark but as witches and wizard stepped into it fully, torches along the walls lit up suddenly revealing a giant chessboard and they were standing on the edge of it. Huge chess pieces stood on both sides, with another door behind the white pieces.

"Do either of you know how to play chess?" Harry asked.

"No," they both said.

Harry cursed. "Should I try to blast these pieces apart?" He asked aloud. As he said this, the white pieces moved to ready their blades while the black pieces turned around ominously before facing them and also readying their weapons."Okay..." He said and took two steps back, Hermione and Allison also following suit. "What should we do?"

"Er, Ron knows about chess, he plays it whenever he can get anyone to join him," Hermione told them. "I just don't know if we should tell him and if he would even help us considering he has no obligation to help us in the first place, especially..." She looked at Harry.

"Especially me... yeah, I know," Harry said with a sigh. "Should we go back?"

Seeing no other option besides Harry trying to blast the giant chess pieces into rubble and endangering Hermione and Allison in the process, the trio went back through the room of winged keys and up passed the Devil's Snare. Through the trapdoor and running from Fluffy.

"We tried, but we need to get Ron to help us," Harry said to them.

"I'll make him talk to me alone, then we can try to convince him," Hermione gasped.

 _ **oOoOo**_

"Do you need something, Hermione?" Ron asked confused. They hadn't really talked to each other throughout the year and now she was telling him they needed to talk. So far she had said nothing and instead walked off. He was curious so he followed her while Seamus and Dean stayed behind.

She went through a door into an empty classroom and Ron followed. When he saw Harry, he froze.

"Wha-?" Ron began to say but Harry interrupted him.

"Hello Ron, I want to talk."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Thanks for reading, please leave a review and I'll see you all next time! (Whenever that may be. I'm busy so I can't say for sure when I can update again)**_

 _ **This chapter was twice as long as I expected.**_


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